The Canadian Nurses Association, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and the Canadian Council of Practical Nurse Regulators, met with the Federal government Minister of Health, Leona Aglukkaq, MP on February 25th meeting. We spoke with the Minister regarding key issues facing nursing practice and education across Canada and sought her support in 4 areas – health human resources, interprofessional collaborative care, nursing research and health system accountability. Specifically we asked the Minister to support: a. a repeat of the National Survey on health and work of nurses (and other professionals) to see if investments and policies to address this over the past few years have made any difference in terms of which ones are having the best impact, in terms of the best return for our investment - to refocus our efforts. b. that committed funding in the budget include a focus on interprofessional collaborative practice through distance education and clinical simulation equipment for undergraduate, graduate, continuing education and faculty development. This would be remove barriers to access to education experienced by nurses in the north and rural areas. Furthermore, we encourage the Minister to strengthen the relationship with HRSDC and education policy given education and health are closely linked in an overall HHR strategy. c. Continued investment in nursing research with a focus on new models of care, interprofessionalism and HHR to strengthen the health system. d. The nursing community would be pleased to work on activities to ensure accountability in the remaining 5 years of the Accord funding and future investments beyond that time. Photo (from left to right): Lynnette Leeseberg Stamler (CASN President), Karen Neufeld (CNA President), Leona Aglukkaq, MP, Minister of Health, Ellen Rukholm, (CASN Executive Director), Linda Stanger, Executive Director/Registrar CLPNA, Rachel Bard, (CNA CEO), and Linda Silas (CFNU Executive Director).
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