Access to Professionals

Patients and parents alike are praising the YARD clinic (Young Adults with Rheumatic Disease) at University of Calgary/Alberta Health Services and with good reason. The clinic ensures that the transfer of care from paediatric to adult care is as seamless and stress-free as possible.

CAPA Steering Committee members (SC) from coast to coast provided their experience, perspective and voice to help inform a recent Nurses Conference in Vancouver. Three questions were asked: The first related to unmet needs; the second and third asked for suggestions for improving the clinical experience with the nurse and rheumatologist. Four themes emerged: Education, Information, Access, and Emotional Support.

Generations of patients have heard the old saying, “the doctor knows best”. We swallowed it like cough syrup and castor oil. But times are changing. Patient needs, preferences and values are becoming increasingly important for achieving good health outcomes.

Patients want to feel safe in the health care system. More than that, we need to be safe. We've heard the horror stories: Medication errors, a sponge left in the patient, the wrong leg amputated, and so on but how common is it that something goes wrong?

Government reimbursement programs can ease the pain of transportation costs for people who need to travel to obtain medical care.

Creative thinking is making a difference in addressing concerns arthritis patients have about access to, and training of, health care professionals.

Sharing experiences on issues of mutual concern with arthritis advocacy groups and individual stakeholders throughout the world creates an environment of learning and support. It also illustrates how very much alike we are in the challenges we face and the successes we attain.

Visiting South Africa this fall afforded me the opportunity to listen and learn from my colleagues and healthcare professionals. These are some of the concerns they shared about MSK diseases and the healthcare culture in their countries.

Service frameworks guide health system improvement. They are companion documents to clinical practice documents and go beyond the patient-physican relationship.

As comforting as it may seem to think quality-end-of-life care is guaranteed in Canada, the reality is quite the opposite