This week and last, our assignment was to figure out where we fit into the Canadian Health Care System, and how our position is governed by the Canada Health Act. For me, this looks a little different now than it did even a few months ago, as I recently left my career in massage therapy, and began a new position in remote care monitoring for diabetes. This assignment was particularly valuable as I transition into this new role. To help me better understand, I created and published this flowchart of Canada's health care system, focusing on Ontario, and how and where I fit in, in my new job, in a multi-organizational remote patient monitoring model intended to improve access to care, and quality of chronic disease management in the rural North.
Canada's health system is a complex web of different organizations working to deliver and uphold all of the principles of the Canada Health Act. Simply reading the references list at this end of this blog post would be an arduous task and by no means is this list considered comprehensive or exhaustive. Yet here we are, finding where our accountability to others, and their accountability to others yet lies in this tangled web.
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My role in particular is closely interlaced with many other levels of the Ontario health system, a fact that has been proving true the more experience I get in this role. The program I lead, like many, is based entirely on contractual funding supplied by Ontario health. This means that I have frequent interactions and status updates with the director of community services at my hospital, and at the other health care organizations that I service. There are also monthly touchpoints with the Rainy River District OHT, and with OH-North. The program that I operate is new, it was a pilot project a year ago, and now I have been tasked with bringing it into a fully sustainable model, should it prove successful. Remote care has easily become a thing of the present through the COVID-19 pandemic, and I don't think there will be a recession of services once we enter endemic status. We track everything on our phones, so why can't those people that have smart devices also track their health status and become engaged and empowered by it? My goal is to make remote care a well-integrated model of care across Northern Ontario.
Legislatively, very little governs my position outside of PHIPA and PIPEDA. I am accountable to all policies and procedures as set out by my hospital. In a round-about way, I am also governed by the legislation that governs the Certified Diabetes Educators [CDEs] and their respective regulatory bodies. I must know their scope of practice (we have staffed Registered Dieticians and Registered Nurses who are CDEs) and know what is involved with being a CDE. I often get clinical questions from the participants in my program, and so I need to know what is within my capabilities to answer, and what should be transferred to which clinician. In a multi-organizational interdisciplinary setting, the proverbial wheels turn more smoothly when we all understand our roles, the roles of others, and our areas of overlap.
References
Alliance for Healthier Communities. (n.d.). Alliance Ontario website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.allianceon.org
Athabasca University. (n.d.). Athabasca University website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.athabascau.ca
Canada Institute for Health Information. (n.d.). Canadian Institute for Health Information website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.cihi.ca
Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (n.d.). CIHR-IRSC website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e
Diabetes Canada. (n.d.). Canada needs a nation-wide diabetes strategy now. Diabetes Canada Website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.diabetes.ca
eHealth Ontario. (n.d.). eHealth Ontario website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.ehealthontario.on.ca
Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services. (n.d.). Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.fftahs.com
Gizhewaadiziwin health access centre. (n.d.). Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.gizhac.com
Government of Canada - Indigenous Services. (n.d.). Non-insured health benefits for First Nations and Inuit. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1572537161086/1572537234517
Government of Canada - National Defense. (n.d.). Canadian forces health services centre Ottawa. Government of Canada website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/bases-support-units/cf-health-services-centre-ottawa.html
Government of Canada. (n.d.). Canada's health care system. Health Canada website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/services/canada-health-care-system.html
Government of Ontario. (n.d.-a). Health care in Ontario. Government of Ontario website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.ontario.ca/health
Government of Ontario. (n.d.-b). Ministry programs - Health care professionals. Rainy River District OHT. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/
Government of Ontario. (n.d.). Preventing and living with diabetes. Government of Ontario website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/preventing-and-living-diabetes
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. (n.d.). About us - JDRF. JDRF website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.jdrf.ca
Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. (n.d.). MOHLTC website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.health.gov.on.ca
Municipality of Fort Frances. (n.d.). Town of Fort Frances website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.fortfrances.ca
Northwestern Health Unit. (n.d.). Northwestern health unit website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.nwhu.on.ca
Ontario Health. (n.d.). Ontario health website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.ontariohealth.ca
Ontario Home and Community Care Support Services. (n.d.). Health care at home - Formerly LHIN. Health care at home website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.healthcareathome.ca/NORTHWEST/EN
Ontario Hospital Association [OHA]. (n.d.). OHA website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.oha.com
Ontario Medical Association. (n.d.). Ontario medical association website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.oma.org
Ontario Telehealth Network. (n.d.). OTN website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.otn.ca
Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.). Public health agency of Canada. Government of Canada website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health.html
Public Health Ontario. (n.d.). Public Health Ontario website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.publichealthontario.ca
Research Canada. (n.d.). Diabetes research and innovation in the making. Research Canada website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.rc-rc.ca/phrc-diabetes-research-innovation
Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc. (n.d.). Riverside Health Care Facilities website. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.riversidehealthcare.ca
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