The health system is known for its inertia; however, the first specialized nurse practitioner (SNP) clinic is shaking things up in Montreal, and quickly.
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On Thursday, the very first specialized nurse practitioner clinic will open in Montreal. This is one of the ideas put forward by the twenty or so experts from Christian Dubé’s Crisis Unit to unclog emergency rooms.
However, the personnel issue poses a major challenge to this initiative. Initially, nurses from other clinics will work overtime on evenings and weekends.
The new clinic might actually weaken the existing network, simply displacing existing resources.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, wanted to be reassuring during his visit to the clinic of specialized nurse practitioners.
“The IPS have made the decision that to make this work, they are ready to give a little more hours, the time that we rearrange the right staff in the right place”, explains the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.
Eventually, three permanent positions will be created. But patients may be reluctant to be treated by these new specialized nurse practitioners.
“We have training in advanced practice, in nursing sciences and an additional diploma in medical sciences, so we have the skills to take care of patients according to our class of specialty”, assures Nadine Belony, specialized nurse practitioner.
The clinic was also set up in record time. It is located in the CLSC Olivier-Guimond, which only had to be reorganized to accommodate the new clinic.
“We raised our hands to embark on this beautiful project only three weeks ago. We have set up a clinic that will be able to respond to 250 patients per week. She is not without an appointment, we cannot present ourselves on site at this time, ”explains Caroline St-Denis, director of multidisciplinary services at the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de -Montreal.
Two other specialized nurse practitioner clinics are to open in Montreal by the end of the year.
