HealthcarePapers
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Following decades of stagnation, potentially transformative changes in primary healthcare are proceeding in several Canadian provinces. These changes - primarily collaborative and interdisciplinary models of care delivery and quality improvement programs - have been impelled by an improved fiscal climate, increased federal transfers (some earmarked for primary healthcare), pressure generated by the recommendations of the Romanow Commission and the Kirby Committee and growing political and public concern about healthcare access and quality. ⋯ Processes are needed at the regional and provincial levels to collectively engage the full range of key stakeholders in providing policy advice and informing the articulation of clear policy direction for primary healthcare. Critical areas for investment include integrated health information systems, quality improvement processes, interdisciplinary primary healthcare teams and group practices, and systematic evaluation of primary healthcare innovations and ongoing system performance.
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Comment
Enabling quality improvement within primary healthcare through the CCHSA accreditation program.
Progress is being made on the journey to strengthen primary healthcare within Canada. As an essential component of the healthcare continuum, primary healthcare must be more effectively linked and its role optimized for better patient/client outcomes to be realized. ⋯ Since that time, accreditation standards have been established across a wide range of healthcare sectors and specialty areas. CCHSA's accreditation program will increasingly contribute to strengthening the essential and integral role of primary healthcare in the healthcare system.
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The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 provided valuable lessons for protecting health workers during an influenza pandemic or other public health crisis. In its final report, the SARS Commission concluded that a key lesson in worker safety was the precautionary principle. It stated that reasonable actions to reduce risk should not await scientific certainty. ⋯ Absent such an approach, the SARS Commission said worker safety may focus solely on a particular piece of personal protective equipment, such as an N95 respirator (important as it may be), or on specific policies and procedures, such as fit testing the N95 respirator to the wearer (significant as it may be). In worker safety, said the commission, the integrated whole is greater than the uncoordinated parts. The third and final worker safety lesson of SARS is the importance of having a robust safety culture in the workplace in which workers play an integral role in promoting a safe workplace.