Integrating advanced practice nurses

This series of Pass it On! highlights four Canadian healthcare organizations that have employed advanced practice nurses to improve care outcomes.

Story 1

Calgary’s Pelvic Floor Clinic: empowering women to improve their quality of life

Recognizing pelvic floor disorders as a growing health problem, the Calgary Health Region needed an innovative solution – one that minimized costs and maximized resources. For the past 10 years, the clinic has used the skills and abilities of its nursing staff to their full extent: in fact, many patients who receive care in the clinic never see a doctor.
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Story 2

Nurse practitioners and physicians collaborate for improved patient care at B.C.’s Interior Health Authority

Is it possible for nurse practitioners and physicians to work side-by-side in a traditional fee-for-service setting? Most definitely, say the staff at British Columbia’s Interior Health Authority, which is successfully pilot-testing a model of care that has health authority-funded, salaried nurse practitioners working collaboratively with physicians in a group practice environment.
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Story 3

NPSTAT is reducing hospital transfers for long-term care residents in Mississauga Halton

An innovative new program in Mississauga Halton, Ontario, is reducing demand for hospital services, ambulances and acute care beds, while at the same time improving the quality of life of long-term care residents in the region. Nurse practitioners deliver a wide range of services in long-term care facilities and are averting hospital transfers as a result.
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Story 4

Responding to the needs of its community: the Saskatchewan’s Women’s Health Centre is grounded in tradition

A 2006 review by the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council revealed a number of problems with its regional health system, which serves a population deemed “at risk.” Enter the Women’s Health Centre, a welcoming, holistic environment where nurse practitioners, midwives, and women’s helpers provide patients with a unique integration of Western healthcare and traditional First Nations healing.
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