Because this is Nurse Practitioners Week in Ontario, the Madawaska Valley Family Health Team (MV FHT) used the occasion to introduce two new members of their team, both registered Nurse Practitioners (NP). Shown above with a celebration cake are Liz Polatynski (left) and Cailin Weersink. Photo submitted. They explained their role: “Nurse Practitioners at MV FHT are independent clinical practitioners who provide primary care to the community. We work collaboratively with our physician colleagues to increase access to primary care for the communities we serve.”
What health care is a Nurse Practitioner allowed to provide?
NPs are graduate-prepared Registered Nurses, regulated since 1998 in the Extended Class by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). They must meet rigorous requirements and standards to enter and maintain ongoing registration in Ontario. In Ontario, NPs are authorized to:
- Complete a comprehensive health history and assessment
- Formulate and communicate a diagnosis, taking a differential diagnosis into consideration
- Prescribe all medications including controlled drugs and substances
- Dispense, sell, and compound medications
- Set and cast fractures and dislocated joints
- Order and interpret all laboratory tests
- Admit, treat and discharge patients from hospitals
- Order some diagnostic imaging tests
Both Polatynski and Weersink cover all these areas. Polatynski works part-time with MV FHT and Weersink is employed full-time. To become an NP in Ontario the RN must be a graduate of a four-year Baccalaureate degree in Nursing and must have at least two years of full-time clinical practice experience. This is followed by successful completion of a Master’s program which is a two year (seven courses) program. It includes courses in advanced health assessment, advanced pathophysiology, therapeutics, and roles and responsibilities, as well as 728 clinical practice hours in the primary health care NP program and 800 clinical hours in the Paediatric or Adult NP program.
Polatynski obtained her degree at York University and her Masters at Athabasca. She has connections with the Valley and has been coming to a cottage here since she was 14 years old. With over 35 years of nursing experience including critical care and management, she has been an NP since 2007. She worked at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as a hospitalist serving vulnerable populations with serious and complex mental health issues and addiction issues. Her primary interest in community work is serving vulnerable populations including the frail elderly.
Weersink has spent the past ten years in Kingston. She was a Queens University undergrad, then obtained her Masters at the University of Toronto before returning to Queens for her NP qualification. This is her first NP position since qualifying. Prior to completing the nurse practitioner program, Cailin worked as a registered nurse at a family birthing centre in Toronto, the emergency department of a small community hospital and doing rural home visiting for public health. Her interests include women’s health, early childhood development, chronic disease management and improving quality of life through health promotion and health education.
How do NPs impact health care in the Valley?
Dr. Jason Malinowski, General Practitioner at St. Francis Health Centre and Chief of Staff at St. Francis Memorial Hospital, said he was pleased with patient acceptance of the NP role. He said, “Because of the number of physician retirements, primary care is very strained in Madawaska Valley – in common with other rural communities. This results in GPs’ workload becoming stressed, but having more Nurse Practitioners providing primary care is a great help.”
Weersink and Polatynski (above in MV FHT office) summarized the scope of their jobs: “As all nurses, we are educated in four modalities of health service including administration and management, education, research and clinical practice. Nurse practitioners have advanced roles and responsibilities including diagnosing, ordering tests and X-rays, and prescribing medications. The College of Nurses of Ontario and government bodies are currently working on increasing the NP scope of practice by granting them the authority to order CT scans and MRIs.”
Call 613.756.9888 Option 5 or click HERE for more information about the Madawaska Valley Family Health Team.
