Membership Update: July, 2024
In this Issue
- Executive Director Update
- Primary Care updates from AHS (see below and NPAA website)
- NEW! Membership benefits
– Nursing Lane – 15% discount on education
– EMR Discount with Healthquest
- NPAA Conference / AGM – Call out for Conference Committee Chair and volunteers.
- NP Primary Care Program (NPPCP) – Clinics opening this fall
- Next Talk Over Tea – July 31, 2024 (1900-2030) – see below for link.
- Survey from Scotiabank – NPPCP applicants – please complete survey. (See link)
- Legislative Changes Update
- Upcoming Education
- Capacity Assessment Designation Training
- Upcoming in person session – September.
- Pre-Registration on eventbrite for virtual option in October required. event to express your interest in attending a dedicated NP virtual training. This will proceed if enough interest is provided.
- Capacity Assessment Designation Training
Executive Director Update
Pamela Lee has stepped down from her position as Executive Director. Jen Mador is interim Executive Director and President until another candidate fills this position. Restructuring of the NPAA organization and hiring of support staff for the new NPPCP Office will be led through a new contract initiative with MNP.
AHS PRIMARY CARE UPDATES (see website for all updates)
Alberta wildfire information update
The Town of Jasper and Jasper National Park have issued an evacuation order for all residents and park visitors. They have been encouraged to evacuate to Grande Prairie, Calgary or Edmonton where reception centres are available to provide support. The town has also declared a state of local emergency.
- AHS Wildfire Resources
- AHS Wildfire Response – Latest Updates
- Wildfire Dashboard
- Alberta Emergency Alert
See NPAA website for more information about the following:
- APL merging duplicative requisitions
- Cardiac Test Results available in My Personal Records
- RhPAP annual report available
- Apply to Join the Illumination Academy at AHS’ i4 Conference
Membership Benefits
See our website for membership benefits. More are coming your way! Tell your NP friends 📣
NEW:
Collaboration with Nursing Lane, a virtual community for NPs across Canada, will provide 15% discount for NPAA members to their Education Sessions. Now a collaboration with multiple NP associations across Canada.
EMR Discount with Healthquest (see NPAA website for full proposal)
– waiving all onboarding and initial purchase fees
– includes resources for NP starting their own businesses
-CII/CPAR support
– electronic prescribing
– virtual appointments
NPAA Conference / AGM Update
Due to multiple factors the challenging decision was made to delay our fall conference until Spring 2025. We sincerely apologize for any confusion. Among other reasons, we recognize the membership’s call to choose a date that did not conflict with the ICN conference. We hope that this change will result in greater turnout from our NP community and engagement at our AGM.
We are still very much looking forward to connecting with you all after many years without a NP conference. We have much to celebrate and look forward to hosting an event for All NPs!
Conference website coming!
NPAA Conference Committee is calling out for Committee Members AND a strong NP lead who can chair the conference committee.
NP students are welcome and we will honor free registration for student volunteers. Limited to 3 students.
Please email conference@albertanps.com to join
NP Primary Care Program
To Date: 107 EOIs, 59 applications submitted, 36 applications approved.
Clinics are set to begin opening this fall!
We continue to build our internal supports and resources.
Completed supports
– Scotiabank Women’s Initiative webinar series.
– 1:1 meetings and email support
– Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta – PIA (recorded)
– CII/CPAR and PIA information session with Alberta Health (recorded)
– Townhall with Alberta Health (recorded)
– Talk Over Tea (every 2-4 weeks)
Ongoing support
– Individual 1:1 meetings are available with NPAA for application guidance and NPPCP support
– Email support through the new Primary Care Office : pcprogram@albertanps.com
– Jen continues to meet with Alberta Health Weekly to provide your feedback on the program. Your emails to the above address are important and taken forward.
– Scotiabank Women’s Initiative Mentorship Program and business supports – email jill.poulton@scotiabank.com
Upcoming support
– MNP webinar series – ongoing business education
– Insurance – ongoing discussions with CNPS and brokerages to find you the right insurance package for your businesses.
Next Talk Over Tea – member requested session
July 31, 2024 1900-2030
Link:
Please continue to reach out to pcpprogram@albertanps.com with any concerns about the NP Primary Care Program and processes.
All general inquiries not related to the Program can be sent to hello@albertanps.com
We are looking for feedback on your experience with the Scotiabank series. For those who attended Scotiabank sessions, Please access this Survey to ensure we tailor our sessions to your learning needs:
Legislative Changes
As a result of a joint effort between NPAA and CRNA and in collaboration with our AHS and Covenant Health stakeholders, a formal letter of proposal for legislative changes has been put forth to Minister LeGrange. We hope that these multiple pieces of legislation will be opened during fall session:
- Health Professions Act
- Registered Nurses Professions Regulation
- Insurance Act
- Alberta Health Care Insurance Act
- Automobile Accident Insurance Benefits Regulation
- Business Corporations Act
- Adult Guardian and Trusteeship Act
- Adult Guardian and Trusteeship Regulation
- Health Information Act
And will in turn affect the following forms:
• Long-term disability
• Auto insurance claims
• Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped
• Workers Compensation Board
• Organ and tissue donation
• Capacity assessments
• Vital statistics
• Death certificates
You can help with this initiative by discussing the necessary changes with your MLAs. The more MLAs are informed going into Fall session, the more likely we will be successful in getting these pieces of legislation addressed.
Upcoming Education Sessions 🎓
Links on NPAA website
Head to our website to see all upcoming events.
Tues July 30: Women’s Health Coalition Presents:
Unexpected Reproductive Anomalies in Girls: Revealing the Unknown About Female Anatomy
6:30pm-8:00pm MT
Presenter: Dr. Kristina Arion OBGYN
Decision-Making Capacity Assessment Training
You asked for it. We got it for you!
Under the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act (AGTA) only 4 professions are permitted to
complete capacity assessments in addition to Physicians and Psychologists. The four
professions are Registered Social Workers, Registered Occupational Therapists, Registered
Nurses (including Nurse Practitioners) and Registered Psychiatric Nurses.
Physicians and Psychologists are permitted under the Regulations to complete assessments
without Ministerial Designation or prior training. The four professions named above are
required to successfully complete a three-day course offered only by the Office of the Public
Guardian and Trustee (OPGT). Following completion of the course, designation must be
received form the Minister (or delegate).
The course consists of three days of instruction about the AGTA and Regulations and
demonstration of the process of conducting a capacity assessment for Co-decision making,
Guardianship and Trusteeship. The third day ends with a final exam that requires and 80% to
pass. You must attend all three days of the course. There is no cost for the course.
The OPGT Capacity Assessment Office was recently made aware of changes to legislation for
the way Nurse Practitioners may practice. There has been as strong interest in completing
training to become capacity assessors. The OPGT is willing to provide training that will give
NP’s priority admission. The following two streams will occur in the fall:
1. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, September 25, 26 and 27 – in person training in
Edmonton. This course is offered to all four professions that require designation,
however priority acceptance will be given to any NP’s that apply. Applications will be
open in mid August. The exact dates and times will be shown on the OPGT web page
at: https://www.alberta.ca/supports-capacity-assessment
2. If there is enough interest and you cannot attend in person at the above dates, a
course will be offered via TEAMS on October 21, 22 and 23. The ad will also appear on
the website closer to the date. This will be specifically offered for NP’s but may also be
open to other professions if the enrollment is low.
Please pre-register at eventbrite as an expression of interest to this date and you will be emailed updates in the near future. Please pre-register by August 9, 2024. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/decision-making-capacity-assessment-training-tickets-957459576367?aff=oddtdtcreator
If you have questions, please contact the Capacity Assessment Office at SCSS.OPGT-
CapAssmnt@gov.ab.ca . If you intend to apply, you may also ask for the application to be emailed to
you and state that you are a Nurse Practitioner. You will be automatically accepted once it is
determined that you meet the criteria for acceptance.
Membership PLUS – new NPAA Tier of membership
We will be launching a new membership tier for those in the NP Primary Care Program, called Membership PLUS. This is where we will house recorded sessions, legal templates, discounted packages from industry partners (such as EMRs and insurance). This new tier is essential to the sustainability of the program and NPAA. The more members in this tier will enable more negotiating power for us to gain benefits for you. Stay tuned for more.