How To improve health care through collaborative practice? Why wait for a family doctor when you can see a Nurse Practitioner for common illness and medical issues or a pharmacist for routine refills. Much of the system is weighed down by Doctors demanding more visits from their patients than is really needed. For example routine refills of common medications, make an appointment to review blood work rather than on the phone etc. Other health care providers can easily fill the gap and strengthen the system.
A tour of different facilities in Canada will show how wait lists can be eliminated.
In southwestern Saskatchewan, one physician working in a team with three nurse practitioners looks after 3,200 patients, over twice the Canadian average.
In Hamilton, Ont., teams of mental health counsellors, family doctors and psychiatrists have increased the numbers of patients treated for mental health problems by 900% while decreasing referrals to the regional psychiatry clinic by 70%.
In Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., a task force reduced the time from mammogram to breast cancer diagnosis from 107 to 18 days.
The list goes on. We need to focus on making these innovations the new norm in health care delivery.
Linda Silas, president, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, Ottawa.
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