February 2003 Newsletter

Newsflash!

Health System Renewal: An Opportunity for Dialogue, Examination, Discussion and Exploration

Wed. February 12, 2003, 08:30 - 14:30

Due to the overwhelming response, we had to close registration within a week of announcing our February 12 Policy Forum in Ottawa! Thanks to all who registered and we are sorry we were unable to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend this time around.

What's it all about? Since 2002, we have been deluged with reports suggesting system renewal and reform at the national, federal, provincial/ territorial and research levels. The recommendations lie before us, and by the time the conference takes place, the First Ministers will have met and reached some agreement about next steps. What does it all mean to the health care system and nursing? How should nursing take on its role as a leader in the policy explication and implementation that lie ahead? What key messages are we hearing, and what messages should nursing be sending back?

The forum will be hosted by the Office of Nursing Policy and our dynamic facilitator, Susan Strelioff. Susan is well known to many of you after serving as chair of Ontario's Nursing Task Force and serving in diverse roles that include Assistant Deputy Minister in Ontario. Our confirmed guest experts include:

Dr. Ginette Rodger , Chief of Nursing, Ottawa Hospital
Ian Shugart , Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Canada
Lori Stoltz , Senior Policy Advisor to Minister McLellan
Dr. Tom Ward , Deputy Minister of Health, Nova Scotia
Dr. Judith Shamian , Executive Director, Office of Nursing Policy

We know they will challenge us all to think about how we will translate all the talk into meaningful action and move the agenda forward from here. But it's not about lectures; it's critical that we use this time to discuss and explore with each other and with our experts, how we move into the high activity of the coming year and what we want to accomplish.

We appreciate your interest and will report on the forum in our next newsletter.

First Ministers Meeting

Prime Minister Chrétien announced on January 15, 2003 that he would meet with the provincial/territorial Premiers February 4-5 in Ottawa to discuss a deal for health-care renewal.

The Prime Minister said, "This meeting will set the course of health care renewal for years to come. Canadians expect their leaders to work together to modernize public Medicare. To renew our public health care system. To demonstrate real progress. To ensure timely access to quality care. In a sustainable way. Canadians expect new investments to buy real change. Not more of the same. Canadians want improved access to care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Canadians want expanded public support for health care wherever it is provided - in a hospital, in a community clinic or at home. Canadians want improved access to diagnostic equipment. And Canadians want transparency and accountability from their governments on how health investments achieve outcomes."

A full transcript of the Prime Minister's remarks may be found at: Office of the Prime Minister

Following the Prime Minister's remarks, Minister of Health, the Honourable Anne McLellan spoke to a large audience at Ottawa University's Faculty of Health Sciences on January 18, 2003. In her first speech since release of the Romanow report, Minister McLellan outlined "some of the thinking with which the Government of Canada is approaching the upcoming First Ministers' meeting." The Minister highlighted issues such as Home Care, Catastrophic Drug Coverage and Health Human Resources. A full transcript of the Minister's speech may be found at:
About Health Canada.

Nursing Education & Research

Calls for Help!

This month we feature requests for your help* on two important research projects, as well as information about a third.

*Please note that responses to any of these studies should be sent directly to the researchers at the addresses indicated, and not to the Office of Nursing Policy. Thanks!

1. Span of Leadership/Control for Nurse Managers

The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA), with a staff of over 27,000 employed in Acute Care, Community Care, Residential Care and Primary Care, is working on determining what is an appropriate span of control for managers. There is not a lot available in the literature to assist us in our deliberations, and the topic is very complex, with multiple variables that impact the complexity of a manager's portfolio, and thus the span of control that can be expected of such a manager. Our goal is to create an organizational culture and infrastructure to support nurse managers as chief retention officers, and to enable nurse managers to meet leadership and management expectations for strategic directions and targeted outcomes.

We would be interested in your input and suggestions on the following:

1. What are factors to be considered in relation to span of control of first line nurse managers?
2. Have any of you worked on this issue within your organization and are willing to share your experience with us?
3. Are any of you interested in collaborating with us to evaluate a variety of approaches to span of control measurement and determination of what would be an efficient span of control, given multiple variables as part of the consideration?

Please contact the researcher if you would be willing to share your experiences and/or collaborate in evaluating approaches to determining efficient and effective span of leadership/ control for front line nurse managers.

Catherine Kidd
Leader, Integrated Workplace Health Promotion
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
11th Floor, 601 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 4C2
Phone: (604) 875-4671 Pager: (604) 871-5671
Fax: (604) 875-4388
catherine_kidd@vrhb.bc.ca

2. Sigma Theta Tau International Study

Strategic Marketing & Research, Inc. a professional research firm located in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA is conducting an international research study among nurses on behalf of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

The Honor Society of Nursing is one of the largest, not-for-profit nursing organizations for individuals in the world. The society's vision is to create a global community of nurses who lead in using scholarship, knowledge and technology to improve the health of the world's people.

Nursing is an ever-changing world. As new techniques and new practices are introduced, today's nurse is constantly striving to stay current and that can be a very challenging aspect of a career in nursing. This study is being conducted to ask your opinions regarding the needs of today's nurses.

Please be assured that this survey is for research purposes only and is not an attempt to sell anything. You were chosen at random for participation in this study, and individual responses are kept in strict confidence.

Please access this survey by clicking on or copying and pasting the URL provided below into the address window of your Internet browser.
http://www.smari.com/sw/wchost.asp?st=990104c

[Editor's Note: This one takes a long time to load! The link does work, but you have to be patient.]

Thanks for your time and consideration. I do hope you will join us in this ongoing research effort. Sincerely,

Nancy Dickenson-Hazard
Chief Executive Officer
Sigma Theta Tau International
Honor Society of Nursing
550 West North Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
1.888.634.7575
nancy@stti.iupui.edu

3. Educating Tomorrow's Nurses - Where's Nursing Informatics?

Funded by Health Canada Office of Health and the Information Highway, this study will describe the current state of:

1. informatics education opportunities currently available to undergraduate nursing students,
2. the level of preparedness of nursing faculty to provide necessary education opportunities in nursing informatics for undergraduate nursing students,
3. information and communication technology infrastructure and support for providing the education opportunities, and
4. opportunities to enhance nursing curricula, faculty preparedness, and ICT infrastructure and support in Canadian schools of nursing.

Phase 1 of the study was completed in October with the successful pilot testing and translation of three questionnaires. Two questionnaires were related to the school program as a whole - Undergraduate Education Opportunity Questionnaire and Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Questionnaire - and one related to faculty - Faculty Preparedness and Expertise Questionnaire . As well, a document of definitions was developed and ethics approval obtained. Phase 2 was launched on October 21, 2002 by "going live" with study information and survey questionnaire links sent to each Canadian School of Nursing Undergraduate Program. Data analysis is now being done.

The draft findings report will be posted on the CNIA website in early February 2003. Phase 3 will involve interpretation, recommendations, evaluation and reporting and will be completed by March 31st. Feedback is encouraged and can be sent to Heather Clarke at heather.clarke@shaw.ca

ONP Activities

Recent Presentations

Dr. Shamian represented Health Canada at the John F. Kennedy School of Government/ Commonwealth Fund Bipartisan Congressional Health Policy Conference ( Comparing Health Care Systems: Successes, Failures, Trends - The Canadian Experience ) Jan. 16-18, 2003.

Office News

We are happy to welcome Dr. Pat Griffin, who has been with us in a part-time position over the past year, to her new full time post as a Senior Nursing Consultant.

Best wishes from all of us to Linda MacLeod who was with us for the final rotation of her Master's program and took the lead on the Healthy Workplace Guidelines project. Linda has begun her new position as a program director at Queensway-Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. Lucky for them!

Upcoming Conferences

Reducing the Global Impact of TB: Canada's Fair Share
Stop TB Canada and World TB Day 2003 Conference
Mar 23-24, 2003
The Marriott Hotel
Ottawa ON
The purpose of this conference is to present and discuss Canada's participation in the global fight against TB, and to determine how Stop TB Canada can further support Canada's role in fulfilling its G-8 commitment.
Contact:
Stop TB Conference Secretariat
c/o British Columbia Lung Association
267 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 2K2
Fax: (604) 731-5810
email:  info@bc.lung.ca

International Council of Nurses
Building Excellence Through Evidence
June 27-29, 2003
Marrakesh Morocco
International Council of Nurses

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing
37 th Biennial Convention
November 1-5, 2003, Toronto, Ontario
Honor Society of Nursing