Ontario has both a health system and a research system that are increasingly aiming to support rapid learning and improvement. Yet, Ontario's health system still faces complex challenges, such as reducing emergency-room wait times, ending hallway medicine, improving support for people with mental health ...
Nurses have a long tradition of informally working in
expanded roles in rural and remote communities in
Canada (e.g., outpost nurses).(1; 2) The formalization of
the nurse practitioner role in Canada began in the mid1960s as a response to four interrelated factors: 1)
introduction of publicly funded heal...
Momentum for patient and caregiver engagement in
health and social care is growing across Ontario.(1) This
is evidenced by a number of recently released strategies
and frameworks highlighting the importance of
involving Ontarians in their own care as informed
consumers of health and social services. One ...
Ontario has both a health system and a research system that
are increasingly putting patients and rapid learning and
improvement at their centre. For the health system, a recent
notable example of such efforts was the Patients First Act
2016 which, among other things, mandated the creation of
Patient and...
Ontario is home to people from more than 200 countries
who speak more than 130 languages. Multiculturalism,
human rights and diversity are core values embraced in
the province.(1) The public education system can play a
crucial role in supporting these core values by
transcending socio-economic and ethno-...
As of last year, nearly two million Ontarians saw their
family physicians for mental health and addictions
concerns. These two conditions account for
approximately 10% of the disease burden in Ontario.(1)
Psychiatric alternate level of care (ALC) days and longstay days represent a significant portion of ...
Oral health is important for the overall well-being of
children and adults, and poor oral health has been linked
to other diseases and serious health conditions such as
respiratory infections, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes
and poor nutritional status. Ontario provides public coverage for a limited sc...
Strengthening Ontario’s health system is important for
achieving the triple aim outcomes of: 1) improving the
patient experience of care; 2) improving population
health; and 3) keeping per capita costs of healthcare
manageable.(3-4) Strengthening the system is particularly
important for patients with c...
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
(CPSO) and Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) have formed a
partnership to support ongoing training, education and
quality improvement across the province. This
partnership will develop provincial quality-management
programs for the service areas of colonoscopy,
m...
Each year more than 1,000 children and youth (0-19
years of age) die in Ontario.(1) The Office of the Chief
Coroner has consistently investigated between 43-49%
of these deaths each year,(1) and many of these
investigations offer opportunities to learn from the
circumstances of the death, although the ex...
