Northern Health adds to its Nurse Practitioner roster

The province of British Columbia has expanded the use of Nurse Practitioners in the health care system and in Northern Health that means five new NP's will move into Northern communities to help assist in the quest for better health care in the region.

Two of the NP's are heading to far western reaches of Northern Health's service region, with one scheduled to serve Prince Rupert- Hartley Bay, Kitkatla and Lax Kw'alaams and the other destined for Old Masset on Haida Gwaii.

The NP based out of Prince Rupert will be providing First Nations primary care services and chronic disease management, while the NP based out of Old Masset will be focused on Elderly patients, chronic disease management, maternity patients and those with mental health and addictions conditions.

The majority of their duties include primary health care treating and diagnosing common illnesses and diseases, prescribe medications, order lab work and other diagnostic requirements. The full review of what the program is all about can be found on the Ministry of Health website.

The role of Nurse Practitioners was expanded in the province last year, the announcement this week making for more positions across the Ministry of Health's various service regions.

Overall 45 new positions were added to locations across across the province's Nurse Practitioner program, at the moment there are 252 nurse practitioners registered in the province.

CKPG TV- Nurse Practitioners (video)
CKPG TV-- Five New Nurse Practitioners Coming to Northern BC
Global BC-- B. C. getting a boost in nurse practitioner numbers
Opinion 250-- Northern Health Secures 5 Nurse Practitioners
The Northern View-- Prince Rupert to receive a new nurse practitioner (Feb 6 e edition page 5)