ORILLIA—A Manitoulin Health Centre (MHC) representative is hopeful that an Ontario government investment announced last week to help nurses upskill their training to provide emergency department care will include the MHC again this year.
The Ontario government is investing $10 million to help more than 1,000 nurses upskill their training to provide emergency department care. “We are hopeful that this program will be renewed (for MHC) this year. It provides great benefits,” Paula Ferguson, vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing officer of MHC, told The Expositor.
“For the fiscal year 2023-2024, MHC participated in the program with 30 nurses,” said Ms. Ferguson. “This program is very valuable and continuing education is so important, and it is essential to update current treatment protocols, emerging technologies and best practices. That current knowledge helps nurses to provide the best quality care.”
Ms. Ferguson said the program “made education more accessible for nurses (as the program is very expensive). Receiving the funding support for the program allowed us to provide this program which benefits the nurses.”
“Our government continues to expand Ontario’s health care workforce and add thousands of new nurses to deliver high-quality care for people and families closer to home,” said Sylvia Jones, deputy premier and minister of health. “This investment will break down barriers and provide more opportunities for emergency department nurses to grow in their career as we build a stronger, more resilient health care system for generations to come.”
Since its launch last year, over 400 nurses from 72 rural and remote hospitals received this upskill training. This latest investment enhances the program this year to allow more than 1,000 nurses working in small, rural and remote emergency departments across the province to access four crucial training and education programs.
Virtual training modules help to deliver high-quality, interactive sessions for general emergency department (ED) orientation, core competency skills and more. Over the last year, 847 sessions were attended by nurses from 72 small, rural and remote hospitals.
The immersion programs provide multi-day, in-person, skills training to educate new emergency department nurses in small, rural and remote hospitals. Over the last year, 53 nurses from 26 small, rural, and remote hospitals attended three immersion programs and were able to get hands-on upskilling.
The Specialty Training Fund provides training education grants to support nurses to complete training courses for core ED nursing skills. Last year over 2,600 courses were funded to break financial barriers for nurses to upskill.
The Establishment of Regional Educator Program increases access to important continuing education and training resources for ED nurses in their region.
“Nurses are telling us that this program is invaluable,” said Judy Linton, executive vice-president and chief nursing executive at Ontario Health. “They are able to effectively apply the content and skills learned in the course to their work, which is helping to ensure quality care to more Ontarians in emergency departments across the province.”
“The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) welcomes the government’s investments in training and educating emergency department nurses in rural and remote communities,” said Anthony Dale, president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). “Ontario’s hospitals appreciate the province’s continued commitment to building a strong health care workforce, which will help ensure patients continue receiving high-quality health care close to home.”
