Pan-Canadian medical licensing ‘more likely than ever’

The Yukon pediatrician, who just completed a one-year term as president of the Canadian Medical Association, says license changes that could help the North are becoming “inevitable.”

Speaking at a conference on northern medicine in Yellowknife, Dr. Katharine Smart said the time has come for provincial and territorial licensing to give way to a national model.

Currently, most healthcare professionals such as surgeons, doctors and nurses must be licensed by a dedicated regulatory authority for the province or territory in which they work.

This requirement can be onerous for both the worker and the healthcare system. A license takes time and often money to acquire, potentially introducing a backlog that is at best frustrating and at worst life-threatening when isolated communities are in dire need of help.

Dr. Smart gave the example of a family doctor who had to spend $5,000 and wait six months to receive the permit needed to work for a week on Fogo Island in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As the Northwest Territories feels the effects of a Canada-wide shortage of healthcare workers, Smart said removing licensing barriers – and introducing a single Canadian licenses – would make it easier for professionals in the South to help communities in the North.

“We’re getting closer to the idea of ​​a pan-Canadian medical license, and we’re advocating for it not only for doctors but also for other healthcare professionals,” Smart said in a speech Saturday at the Peer North conference.

“It’s something that can have a lot of impact, especially for those of us who work in rural and remote areas. We know how difficult it can be to get locums, with all the paperwork, administrative burden and hurdles.

“It’s very difficult to have the labor mobility that we need to meet the changing dynamics of what we need across the country. I think eliminating that can be very helpful and I think a key part of retaining doctors in rural and remote communities because if you don’t know you can easily get support or help when you need it, it’s hard to want to commit to a full-time position.

Ottawa can “show leadership”

The idea of ​​relaxing territorial licensing requirements has in the past raised concerns.

When the territorial government crafted legislation to make it easier for southern professionals to deliver virtual care in the North, the Northwest Territories Medical Association became concerned about how to implement such a measure. to protect “the quality and cultural safety of patient care”.

One would expect any pan-Canadian system to address these issues

During a question-and-answer session on Saturday, Smart – replaced last month as CMA head by Dr Alika Lafontaine, the group’s first Indigenous chair – said a national licensing model was “more likely now than he ever was.”

A pilot program involving a regional license is underway in Atlantic Canada, she told delegates at the Chateau Nova hotel.

Smart suggested that a national system would represent a victory for the federal government, which she said was in a “strange position where it’s one of the main funders of the system, but it doesn’t have much of a say in it.” say in the delivery of health care”.

“This is an opportunity for them to show leadership and facilitate something that would have an impact,” Smart said.

“We have to have some flexibility between those lines across our country. It doesn’t really make sense that, if I’m in the Yukon and there’s someone who can virtually help my patient in Calgary…like, why can’t they do that?

“I don’t think it will happen tomorrow but I think…there is a lot more political will. It’s kind of on this path to becoming inevitable, and people who are in the way are going to have to start moving away.

“A chance to show our strength”

The Northern Peer Conference – Peer represents patients, experience, evidence and research – is new.

The conference ran Thursday through Saturday, incorporating a medicinal walk along Yellowknife’s Frame Lake Trail and a Friday evening social event at the Garden.

In a press release, the NWT Medical Association said Peer North provides a “culturally relevant forum to connect and strengthen relationships among northern healthcare providers.”

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to share medical knowledge, but it’s also a chance to show the strength of our medical community and share what we love about practicing in the North,” said Dr. Katherine Breen of the NWTMA, which helped plan the conference.

Topics discussed at Peer North included virtual healthcare, diabetes, alcohol and frostbite. Speakers came from the three territories, northern Alberta and British Columbia.

A second conference is planned for Yellowknife next year, with the possibility of hosting the conference in other northern locations such as Whitehorse in future years.

Related