Ontario is providing funding for up to 75 new attending nurse practitioners in long-term care homes over three years, including 30 starting this fall.
The new attending nurse practitioners will be the onsite primary care provider for patients. Working as part of a team of health professionals, these new nurses will help strengthen the care that residents receive in long-term care homes and the community.
The attending nurse practitioners will address the complex care needs of residents by delivering and coordinating services including:
- Proactive assessments and screenings
- Follow-up care
- Timely specialist referrals
- Ongoing chronic disease management
- End-of-life care.
As highly trained and experienced health professionals, nurse practitioners combine advanced nursing knowledge and a deep understanding of health management, health promotion, and disease and injury prevention.
Increasing the number of nurse practitioners in long-term care homes is part of the government’s plan to build a better Ontario through its “Patients First: Action Plan for Health Care,” which is providing patients with faster access to the right care, better home and community care, the information they need to stay healthy and a health care system that’s sustainable for generations to come.
Quick Facts
- 30 new attending nurse practitioners will begin work in long-term care homes this fall.
- The number of nurse practitioners working in Ontario has increased to 2,209 in 2014, up 7.4 per cent from 2013.
- Nurse practitioners provide a full range of health care services to individuals, families and communities in Ontario. More than half of all Ontario nurse practitioners practice primary care, with the remainder focused on geriatrics, acute care, emergency care and cardiac care.
- Ontario is a frontrunner in the use of nurse practitioner-led clinics. First introduced in 2007, there are currently 25 operational nurse practitioner-led clinics, which provide primary care to more than 49,000 people.
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, September 24, 2015
Source: https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2015/09/75-new-nurse-practitioners-to-be-hired-in-long-term-care-homes.html
