Policy Papers/Reports
The following are reports and documents released by various organisations and government authorities that are relevant to community nursing.
RNAO Resolution 5: Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy. CHNIG recognized that best practice tools and resources are needed to address vaccine hesitancy in nursing practice. A resolution was tabled at the RNAO AGM in June 2020, and was accepted. It calls for, “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) develops a plan to support RNs and NPs to promote the importance of vaccines, vaccination, and addressing vaccine hesitancy amongst health professionals.”
Health Care Consent, Advance Care Planning, and Goals of Care Practice Tools: The Challenge to Get it Right Commissioned by the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO), this paper provides background research to the “Improving the Last Stages of Life” project. The demand for pre-planning by patients about future health care decisions has dramatically increased, particularly for end-of-life care. Despite any pre-planning that is done, in Canada, it is firmly established that the decision-making process requires health practitioners to obtain informed consent before providing treatment. In Ontario, this is a requirement of the Health Care Consent Act1 (HCCA), which provides that consent be obtained from capable patients and otherwise, from their substitute decision-makers (SDMs). To read the full report and for more details, visit the LCO website. December 2016
Mind the Safety Gap in health system transformation: Reclaiming the Role of the RN Ontario’s health system is at a critical juncture. With its Patients First initiative, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) has indicated major changes are on the horizon that will shift health care into the community, and provide more co-ordinated health services. This bold strategy proposes to create the kind of system Ontarians want and deserve, but RNAO’s research suggests the province may not currently have the health human resources (HHR) to make it a reality. May 2016
Palliative and End-Of-Life Care Provincial Roundtable Report A Report from Parliamentary Assistant John Fraser to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care March 2016
PATIENTS FIRST – Message from the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care A proposal to strengthen patient-centred health care in Ontario Discussion Paper December 17, 2015
Evidence for School Public Health Nurses The CHNIG School Health Committee has been working extremely hard throughout 2014 and into 2015 to finish these papers in time for the Annual General Meeting. Join us at the RNAO meeting on Friday April 17th, 2015 to support the CHNIG resolution: “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that RNAO lobby the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Ministry of Education (EDU), the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS)and others, to pilot the placement of school-based public health nurses working to their full scope of practice and to collect Ontario data on health and academic outcomes associated with this level of service delivery in pilot schools.”
CNA/CHSRF series of reports to inform the CNA National Expert Commission The Health of Our Nation – The Future of Our Health System: Paper 1 To advance the role of nursing in reducing health inequalities, the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) in partnership with the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) conducted an analysis of public policy and programming focusing on the determinants of health and health outcomes that are effective in achieving the healthiest populations.
Healthy Schools, Healthy Children: Maximizing the Contributions of Public Health Nursing in School Settings (Version 2.0) Schools are a key setting for PHNs to provide public health programs and services and work collaboratively with others committed to comprehensive school health. The paper describes the critical issues in school health and articulates a scope of practice for public health nurses (PHNs) working within the school setting.
NHS Sustainability Model – 2010
The Sustainability Model is a diagnostic tool that will identify strengths and weaknesses in your implementation plan and predict the likelihood of sustainability for your improvement initiative. Find the Guide and Sustainability Radar Chart Below.
CHNIG Input into Reports
The CHNIG executive members have provided input into several government reports. See below for a listing of some of the final reports we have collaborated on.
Pesticides: To: Premier Dalton McGuinty The Community Health Nurses’ Initiatives Group (CHNIG), an interest group of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, is the voice of Community Health Nurses influencing the health care system, and health and social policy in areas which affect the work of Community Health Nurses and the public we serve. CHNIG represents over 1900 community health nurses registered with the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.
Obesity Surveillance: To: Ms. Cynthia Morton Deputy Minister of Health Promotion Overall, the proposal is a step in the right direction towards establishing an obesity strategy for Ontario. Surveillance is an important aspect of any comprehensive health promotion strategy and is a missing link in our understanding of childhood obesity as we currently have no solid baselines established. The Registered Nurses Association (RNAO) of Ontario has created a ‘Primary Prevention of Childhood Obesity’ Best Practice Guideline (BPG) which helped inform our comment.
Accreditation Letter: To: Ms. Wendy Nicklin Executive Director Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation The purpose of this letter is to request the opportunity to engage in conversation and partnership between Community Health Nurses Initiative Group of Ontario and Canadian Council of Health Services Accreditation regarding how we can collectively strengthen and integrate Community Health Nursing Standards into the accreditation process for home health care organizations.
CHNIG / RNAO response to Gov. Caplan: Dear Minister Smitherman, we are writing to you about Choosing Quality, Rewarding Experience: Ontario’s Response to the Caplan Report on Homecare. We support your Ministry’s commitment and attention to the home care sector.
Methadone Task Force report: Final Report has been released and is listed on the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care site as of July 2007
Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic (OHPIP) CHNIG provided input through Sue Starling, OPHA rep. Access the final document.
CHNIG’s response to the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation’s draft Standards for Public Health.
Childbirth Nurses Interest Group Continues to work with partners both within and outside of RNAO ( CHNIG, PedNIG, OBC and OPHA) to advance the cause of the Baby-Friendly Initiative in Ontario.