What's New!- March, 2024

The Northern Maternal Child Network (NMCN), is committed to ensuring you receive timely information regarding best practices, guidelines, resources and events.

Visit our website for more information.



Feel free to send information regarding professional development to [email protected] for future newsletters. 

Northern Regional Education

ALARM (Advances in Labour And Risk Management)


This course has been created by the SOGC and includes case discussions and workshops on breech deliveries, postpartum hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, and much more. This course is suitable for both new and experienced health care providers (MDs, nurses, and learners), and is accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada. For information on the course, please visit ALARM Courses (sogc.org)


Dates: Wed. May 15 th- Thurs. May 16 th , 2024, 8:00 – 5:00 (Breakfast 7:30)


Where: Sioux Lookout at the Meno Ya Win Health Center


Costs: See below image.


Registration: To sign up please go to : SOGC ALARM Course Sioux Lookout pre-registration. SLEGG members and invited guests are to please confirm registration prior to March 30 to receive priority placement


If you have questions feel free to email [email protected]. If questions regarding the exam or registration challenges on the sogc website email [email protected]


Please forward on to any interested parties

*Sioux Lookout's Local Education group is subsidizing local LEG member physicians

If you have education offered in the North and have space for external participants, the NMCN can help advertise in our newsletter and on our education page on our website. Email [email protected] for more information.

CTV News:

What Gender-affirming Care is and How it can be Life-saving

Angelina Wiwczor, nurse practitioner with the NEO Kids and Family program's Gender Diversity Clinic at Health Sciences North in Sudbury, was interviewed by CTV News to clarify myths and misconceptions related to gender-affirming care for youths.


The article and interview recording entitled What gender-affirming care is and how it can be life-saving, discusses the definition of gender-affirming care, it's importance and provides information on how to access resources/support.

Public Health Ontario: Vaccine Safety Surveillance Tool

Public Health Ontario (PHO) has updated the Vaccine Safety Surveillance Tool to include data for 2012-2022. This interactive tool provides vaccine safety surveillance data in Ontario by trends over time, age and sex, public health unit, type of vaccine and type of adverse event. You can now explore vaccine safety data from 2012 to 2022.

 

They've also released a complementary infographic, Vaccine Safety in Ontario, to visually summarize AEFIs reported in Ontario following vaccines administered in 2022. Visit the Vaccine Safety Surveillance Tool webpage, to explore the updated resources. 

  

Public Health Ontario Data Snapshots

Snapshots are a collection of interactive map-based dashboards showing both geographic and temporal trends for key public health indicators by public health unit (PHU) and Ontario overall. They use Core Indicators developed by the Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario (APHEO), where available. Among the snapshots available are dashboards related to Health Equity and Reproductive and Child Health.

More Information

Health Workforce Innovation Challenge

Canada’s health workforce is struggling with shortages. There are also impactful solutions emerging in healthcare organizations that can be supported and scaled. Healthcare Excellence Canada’s new innovation challenge is here to help.


Are you and your colleagues trying—or wanting to try—new approaches to promote staff retention and support of your current health workforces? For example:

  • Fostering physically safe work environments
  • Enhancing sustainable staffing
  • Building flexible work structures
  • Providing equitable and appropriate compensation
  • Ensuring supportive and inclusive workplaces
  • Supporting career advancements


If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, then this challenge is for you. Win monetary awards, build your capacity and join a community with shared goals for mutual support and learning.


This outcomes-based challenge features opportunities for monetary awards over 12-months, to recognize and reward the success of teams in moving the dial on improving the retention and support of their current workforce.


How to Join: Teams can register anytime up until April 30, 2024.

More Information

ICES Research Forum 2024 – Strength of Numbers: Partnering for Impact


Registration for the free, virtual ICES Research Forum, Strength of Numbers: Partnering for Impact, is now open! 

 

Plan to join them on May 2, 2024, for a day of notable speakers, moderated presentations and insightful panels, offering many opportunities to learn and connect. For the first time, the program will also include dedicated spotlight sessions designed to support robust discussion and networking in a more informal format. 

 

The Research Forum brings together over 800 attendees, including community leaders, researchers, data experts, and decision-makers from various provincial and federal health system organizations and ministries.  

More Information

eConsults with Specialists in Ontario


The eConsult Service has been developed to improve equitable and timely access to specialist advice for requesting clinicians and their patients. This service provides requesting clinicians (physicians, nurse practitioners, and midwives) with an asynchronous electronic communication tool that allows them to communicate directly with specialists via a web‐based portal so they can obtain advice about their patient’s care which often eliminates the need for an in-person specialist visit. On average, the requesting clinician will receive advice within 2 days.


There are two models:

  • eConsult BASE™ Managed Specialty model:
  • eConsults are sent to a group of specialists from across the province in a specific specialty and each case is assigned to a specific specialist by a case assigner.
  • Over 130 specialties offered province-wide.
  • Direct to Specialist model:
  • eConsults are sent to individual specialists/groups by searching in a directory.


More Information

Child Health Equity: A system-focused learning series


Children's Healthcare Canada, in collaboration with the IWK Health Centre, invites you to join them online for a 3-part Child Health Equity: A system-focused learning series 


1. Delivering Equity in all Child Healthcare Services (March 7, 2024) 

2. Inclusive Child Health Research for Equitable Outcomes (March 21, 2024) 

3. Evidence-informed Policy: Advancing health equity for all children (March 28, 2024) 


This learning series contributes to their commitment to right-sizing children’s healthcare systems; improving healthcare access, experiences, and outcomes. More specifically, this learning series will: 


  • Convene and connect the child health community to:
  • Share evidence (from research, practice, policy, and lived experience) 
  • Inform collective action on a shared goal, equitable healthcare access, experiences, and outcomes 
  • Discuss core principles of child health equity and how to embed them among child- and youth-serving healthcare organizations, research institutes, and family and other strategic partners.
  • Understand existing evidence and resource gaps, identify and share or co-create strategies to address gaps and do better for children and families from communities still underserved. 
  • Engage interested members and partners to create a Child Health Equity Practice and Policy Network through which we will: 
  • Share relevant evidence (from research, practice, program, organizational, health systems, and lived experience) 
  • Inform decisions at practice, organizational, policy, and health systems levels 
  • Identify opportunities for collaboration and alignment 
  • Identify and explore effective and equitable models of healthcare, child health policy, and research for potential spread and scale


Register for the series or individual sessions. Visit their website for more information.  

More Information

Paediatrics and Child Health Journal Articles

Health care utilization after enrollment in an outpatient structured clinical program for children with medical complexity (February, 2024)


Social prescribing: Moving pediatric care upstream to improve child health and wellbeing and address child health inequities (January, 2024)


An affirming approach to caring for transgender and gender-diverse youth (October, 2023)


Lessons from a transgender teen’s final year of life (June, 2023)


Ensuring access to innovative therapies for children, adolescents, and young adults across Canada: The single patient study experience (April, 2023)

More Information

Northern Maternal Child Network

Crystal Lawrence, Regional Coordinator

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.nmcn.ca

Connecting the North, Improving Health