ACCREDITATION CANADA ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN SUMMARY

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN FEBRUARY – APRIL 2010
ANALYSE DU MILIEU FÉVRIER - AVRIL 2010
Topic
Matière
Issue
Catégorie
Strategic Directions
Orientations stratégiques
AB
Ethics
 Funding cuts could result in the closure of Alberta's Provincial Health
Ethics Network, which has helped patients, health-care workers and
health regions with difficult medical ethics questions. Most of the
temporary funding from AHS runs out March 31.
 Supporters say Alberta Health Services should reinstate the funding, or
the loss will lessen the province's ability to thoughtfully deal with ethical
dilemmas likely to increase with an aging population, new technologies,
more experimental drugs and growing chronic health problems.
 The network -- the first and largest of its kind in North America -- has
trained health-care workers how to approach ethical questions such as
circumcision, the HPV vaccine, family disagreements over ending life-
support, or disclosure of medical errors. The network has also helped
develop legislation and health policy on issues such as pandemic
planning and codes of conduct. Edmonton Journal 2010.03.11
Qmentum standards address
various ethical issues,
including developing policies
and procedures.
BC
Health Human
Resources
 BC is expanding paramedics’ scope of practice to integrate the ambulance
service more closely with the health system, empowering paramedics to
make health care decisions to improve patient care.
 Examples include dealing with people who have chronic diseases in
residential care facilities, joining home- and community-care workers in
supporting clients in their homes, and providing care in emergency
departments.
 Amendments to the Emergency and Health Services Act pave the way for
Qmentum includes standards
for Emergency Medical
Services.
The BC EMS providers were
recently integrated into
Provincial Health Services
Authority (PHSA). They will

2
Topic
Matière
Issue
Catégorie
Strategic Directions
Orientations stratégiques
the introduction of “treat and release,” whereby a paramedic called to a
scene could assess a patient, provide appropriate treatment, and advise on
follow-up care, instead of having to transport the patient to the emergency
department.
 These legislative changes will provide the opportunity for paramedics to
play a much greater role in health care delivery, especially in rural and
remote areas. BC Ministry of Health Services 2010.04.21
be accredited through PHSA
as one of their sequential
components. Discussions with
PHSA are underway.
CDA
Health Trends
 According to the HealthCast series of reports on health industry trends
published by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, a
growing and aging population, more people living with chronic disease,
and inconsistent service delivery (due in part to financial and workforce
shortages) are placing increased pressure on the health care system in
Canada.
 Key consumer findings include:
 42% of Canadians indicated that immediate access to a doctor or
health care provider is top-of-mind in their definition of "quality"
health care, compared to only 30% globally.
 When it comes to specialized care, Canadians have a much harder
time accessing specialist physicians than the rest of the world.
Almost half said it was difficult to see a specialist.
 Canadians rely heavily on their physicians as a source of medical
information. In fact, 72% said they prefer to go to the doctor's office
to obtain information about their personal health.
For information.

3
Topic
Matière
Issue
Catégorie
Strategic Directions
Orientations stratégiques
 Consumers also want silos to be broken down in health care. Two-
thirds of global consumers surveyed said coordinated clinical teams
are important to them, similar to 60% of Canadian consumers. NB
Council Briefing 2010.04.20
CDA
Health Human
Resources
 The Toyota method of using automobile assembly line techniques to
improve health care efficiency is “catastrophic” according to a sociologist
at the University of Quebec who did a study of the workplace at the local
area network in Ahuntsic and Montreal North. Professor Angelo Soares
found four of 10 employees posted high levels of psychological stress, and
over half felt a disconnect between their values and those of management.
Health Edition 2010.03.26
The quality of employee
worklife is an integral
component of the Qmentum
accreditation program. The
Worklife Pulse Survey is part
of the Qmentum accreditation
program.
CDA
Health Care
Sustainability
 In an opinion-editorial published in the National Post (Mar. 24), Canadian
Medical Association President Dr. Anne Doig suggests a number of ways
of dealing with the question of sustaining health care spending without
crowding out other priorities like education and social programs.
 First, she says it is important to “explore and agree on the underlying
reasons why health spending exceeds economic growth. Part of this
exploration must include measuring and appreciating the value of our
health system, both realized and unrealized.” Dr. Doig points to a study
by the Public Health Agency of Canada that said the cost of premature
mortality equaled the direct cost of providing health services in 2000.
 Second and third, she says “we need to make quality king in health
care” and make governments more accountable for their oversight and
For information.

4
Topic
Matière
Issue
Catégorie
Strategic Directions
Orientations stratégiques
management of the health care system. That begins with producing
comparable data and health indicators.” Then, she says Canadians need to
be encouraged to take increased personal responsibility for health and
health care.
 Finally, “we must stop looking at health spending in isolation. Once we
get a better understanding of the likely future path and size of health
spending we must determine what the subsequent implications are for
other government programs like education, social services, public security
and infrastructure.” Health Edition 2010.03.26
CDA
Health Human
Resources
 According to a recently released report, three-quarters of Canadian family
doctors have experienced at least one incident of major abuse at the hands
of patients. Close to 40 per cent had been subjected to severe abuse
including assault.
 The findings were released in the journal Canadian Family Physician. It was
the first national examination of violence in doctors' offices.
 The study's author would like to see Canada develop a national policy on
how doctors should deal with such abuse, while ensuring the patient in
question still gets the medical treatment he or she needs. CBC 2010.03.17
Qmentum standards address
safety issues affecting both
clients and staff.
An ROP on workplace
violence prevention was
released in February. It will
apply to surveys starting in
2011.
CDA
Infection
Prevention and
Control
 Linguists at Xerox Corporation have teamed up with medical researchers
in France to explore how "language technology" can help curtail hospital-
acquired infections (HAI).
 Researchers will use a "text mining" tool developed by Xerox to analyze
For information.

5
Topic
Matière
Issue
Catégorie
Strategic Directions
Orientations stratégiques
medical records, automatically identifying patients who could be at risk of
contracting an HAI. The mining software identifies specific terms that
indicate a patient may have contracted an HAI, making the link between
patient symptoms, drugs and names of bacteria. When these links identify
potential risk of an HAI, the system automatically alerts the staff. The
project, titled “Assistant de Lutte Automatisée et de Detection des
Infections (ALADIN),” is being sponsored by the French government in
an effort to help detect HAIs more quickly and reduce infections. NB Council
Briefing 2010.03.25
CDA
Infection
Prevention and
Control
 A study by the Canadian Nosocomial Surveillance Program shows a
dramatic increase in the number of cases of Canadians becoming infected
or colonized by MRSA since 1995, both in hospitals and within the
community. Researchers found that between 1995 and 2007, the incidence
of MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - soared 17-fold at
Canadian hospitals.
 Over the 13-year period, there was also a three-fold jump in the number of
MRSA infections associated with more virulent strains from the
community.
 According to lead author Dr. Andrew Simor, chief of microbiology and
infectious diseases at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto,
Canadian hospitals have had a measure of success in dealing with MRSA,
but more still needs to be done. "There are things we can do to lower the
risk of MRSA spread in hospitals, including increased screening of high-
risk patients, better compliance with hand hygiene, appropriate cleaning
of the hospital environments, and other infection prevention and control
In addition to the standards
on Infection, Prevention and
Control (IPC), there are seven
ROPs that address IPC and
apply to all clients.
Two ROPs are specific to hand
hygiene:
 Education/Training on
hand-hygiene
 Hand-hygiene audit