September 27, 2014

Karima Velji, RN, PhD, CHEPresident

CNA

Novice to Expert: THE JOURNEY

Canadian Nurses Association

The national professional voice of registered nurses in Canada

VISIONRegistered nurses:Leaders and partners working to advance nursing and health

CNA…

• Shapes healthy public policy

• Promotes the role of registered nurses

• Fosters nursing excellence

Our members

More than 150,000 RN members

Jurisdictional members Canadian Nursing Students’ AssociationCanadian Network of Nursing Specialties

NEW Family of Nursing

Independent NursesNurse Emeritus

Network of Nursing Specialties

CNA-CFPNA connection

Primary care: Setting the stage

The issues

• Canadians are living longer and developing more chronic conditions and diseases

• However, millions of Canadians still lack regular access to primary care

Primary care: Policy gaps

Fundamental shift is required

• Acute care-focused community-based care

What is occurring in Canada?

Key stakeholders are trying to advance primary care models

What CNA is doing

What we know

Investing in primary care pays off for Canadians and the health-care system

What is needed

Optimize the role of RNs working in primary care settings

The ‘ask’

A national upward harmonization strategy is needed . . .

to maximize the role of RNs in primary care

Optimizing the role: Barriers

Barriers include:

• lack of role clarity

• lack of stakeholder understanding of nursing competencies and scope of practice

Optimizing the role: Facilitators

Facilitators include:

• collaborative interdisciplinary teamwork

• nurses’ knowledge, skills and experience

Key take-away messages

• A fundamental shift from acute care to community-based care is required

• Investing in primary care pays off for Canadians and the health-care system

• Our country needs a coordinated approach to primary care that maximizes the scopes of practice of registered nurses

Getting to the ideal place

• Tackle areas of improvement where we can see meaningful and measureable outcomes

Caring Ahead

• Increase the percentage

of primary care practices offering after-hours care

Caring Ahead

• Increase chronic disease case management and navigational capacity in primary care

Caring Ahead

• Increase Canadians’ access to electronic health information and services

CNA’s top priorities

Addressing the needs of vulnerable populations:

• seniors• aboriginal Canadians

Seniors care

Healthy aging: supporting older Canadians

Improving aboriginal care

Strengthening aboriginal families: more community-based care

Shifting the health-care focus

What does this mean

for nursing practice and education . . . and for CFPNA?

CFPNA: Time to unleash the power

CNA presidential tagline:

Unleash the power of registered nurses

This applies to primary care . . .

• advocate through action = invest in primary care

• expand scope of practice = optimize the RN role

• lead always = claim your spot in the primary care landscape

CFPNA: What success would look like

• Strong and ever-growing membership base

• Greater awareness of the invaluable role of nurses working in primary care

• Seen as the go-to experts in primary care

Journey to achieve success

• Be bold and claim your spot in the primary care landscape

• Advocate for primary care reform

Influencing healthy public policy

• Create policy briefs, analyses, position statements

• Actively participate in coalitions and working groups

Opportunities for influence

The power of one

• Be a true partner in helping patients and clients work toward better health

• Live and breathe primary care

• Show others primary care in action

Thank you!