congratulations, you have a family doctor! queensway carleton hospital pilot matches newborns with doctors
4 minute read
ayisha cretney-reney, left, and glenn burley hold baby charlotte cretney-reney at the queensway carleton hospital.
jean levac
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ayisha cretney-reney and her partner, glenn burley, searched for years to find a family doctor. but, when she became pregnant with their first child, the search began again: their doctor was no longer taking new babies of patients.
their baby was at risk of becoming one of hundreds of infants born at ottawa’s queensway carleton hospital every year who do not have family doctors. that changed when they met tracey zoobkoff.
zoobkoff, a former obstetrics nurse, is care co-ordinator of the hospital’s newborn primary care attachment initiative, a pilot project that aims to make sure every baby born at queensway carleton and at nearby almonte general hospital is matched with a family doctor.
charlotte cretney-reney, born on jan. 21, was among the first infants to be matched with doctors through the program. it was a huge relief for her parents.
“it is hard enough to find a family physician,” cretney-reney said. “to have somebody who can facilitate that for the most vulnerable, which are children, is a relief.”
the thriving baby had an appointment with her new doctor two weeks after her birth and has had a number of appointments since then for vaccines and checkups.
since it began in january, the initiative has connected nearly 230 newborns to primary care. the plan was to give babies and their families a “soft landing” of care for 24 months while they continued to look for primary care. but, in the majority of cases, the participating physicians have taken on the infants permanently and, in some cases, also accepted siblings and parents of those babies.
the program helps solve a worrisome, and growing, problem: the lack of primary care for infants during the crucial early months of their lives. one estimate says that around 16 per cent of babies born in ottawa do not have primary care. the numbers at queensway carleton suggest the rate of “unattached” newborns might be higher than that.
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those early weeks and months are crucial to making sure young babies are growing and feeding well, that there are no illnesses or developmental issues that need early diagnosis and treatment for best outcomes and that they get vaccinated on time. a months- or years-long wait for a doctor in the life of an infant is potentially dangerous.
burley said the initiative should be part of government policy.
“from a public policy standpoint, this makes so much sense because you have tracey with all this expertise and she is making all of these connections. she becomes this conduit between patients and physicians. it is so streamlined and efficient. i can’t believe this isn’t the norm,” burley said.
“i’m surprised that it is only just a pilot. this should just be a program.”
cretney-reney said she was surprised just how many appointments her daughter had in the early weeks of her life.
“as first-time parents we don’t know how often they have to see a physician and the appointment milestones. this has taken a big weight off our shoulders,” she said.
the program is praised by parents and others. several parents have written to dr. jane philpott, who chairs ontario’s primary care action team, to let her know how important the program is.
but so far it is only a temporary fix.
queensway carleton has funding to continue the initiative until the beginning of july. after that, its future is in doubt.
its success in connecting newborns and many family members to physicians is largely due to the work zoobkoff puts in tracking down and connecting with primary caregivers, even exerting persuasion in some cases. among other things, she tries to find suitable matches for families. the program is also in touch with montfort hospital to help find francophone family doctors for french-speaking families whose newborns do not have primary care.
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the program makes it easier for physicians by reducing much of the administrative burden associated with taking on new patients, said ashley malloff, vice-president for quality and chief nursing executive at queensway carleton. the hospital puts together all the necessary documents into a streamlined package of information for each tiny patient.
“primary care can take (the package) and do what they do clinically rather than the administrative burden that comes with taking on new patients,” malloff said.
“the initiative is about giving newborns the best possible start and supporting families when they need it most,” says ashley malloff, vice-president quality and chief nursing executive at queensway carleton hospital.
queensway carleton hospital
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the hospital set up a pediatric discharge clinic a few years ago because of growing demand at other clinics for newborns. some parents were going to walk-in clinics or emergency departments with newborns because they had no other options in the first weeks of life.
“the initiative is about giving newborns the best possible start and supporting families when they need it most,” malloff said.
“by identifying and supporting unattached families early, we can reduce stress for parents and help ensure babies get the best possible start in life.”
in addition to working with family doctors and primary care providers, the initiative works with kids come first, ottawa public health’s healthy babies, healthy children program, pinecrest queensway community health centre, the ottawa west four rivers ontario health team and almonte general hospital.
the initiative reflects growing concerns that some infants are falling through the cracks of the health system at a vulnerable time in their lives because of the shortage of primary-care providers.
in vanier, which has the lowest rates of primary care attachment in the city, the ottawa nurse practitioner-led clinic takes in every new baby born at montfort hospital to families living in its catchment area — in and around vanier — who don’t have primary care.
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montfort has also attached 25 francophone babies born at queensway carleton with the montfort academic family health team, spokesperson martin sauvé said.
one out of every three people visiting montfort’s emergency department does not have primary care.
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