Celebrating Nurse Practitioner Week in Ontario
By: Danielle Howson, Executive Director and Nurse Practitioner Lead for the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic
As health care continues to evolve, one constant remains: the trusted presence of nurse practitioners (NPs) in communities across Canada, including the Peterborough community.
Nurse Practitioner Week, from November 10 – 16, is an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the vital role NPs play in a variety of healthcare settings.
The theme this year is ‘Trusted Voices, Proven Care.’
As the Executive Director and Nurse Practitioner Lead for the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic (360 NPLC), I would like to recognize and celebrate our staff nurse practitioners for the compassion, dedication and professionalism each of you provide when caring for your patients. The meaningful impact you make does not go unnoticed.
This is also an opportunity to shine a light on what nurse practitioners do as professionals in the broader health care system and, specifically, the vital work they do in our nurse practitioner-led clinic.
Nurse practitioners are regulated by the College of Nurses of Ontario. An NP is a registered nurse (RN) with advanced university education and expanded scope of practice. NPs provide personalized, quality health care to patients. Nurse practitioners must first become registered nurses by completing a four-year bachelor’s degree in nursing followed by additional graduate-level education. Most nurse practitioner programs require the RN to have one to two years of clinical experience prior to enrolment. The graduate-level program consists of both a master’s degree as well as a specialized curriculum for nurse practitioners.
Primary care nurse practitioners approach care from a holistic perspective, placing an emphasis on preventive care and health promotion as well as patient education as part of their approach to care.
NPs provide a full range of health care services to individuals, families and communities. NPs can order and interpret diagnostic tests, make diagnoses, prescribe medicines and perform specific procedures. NPs can, when needed, make referrals to other health care services and specialists. We work in partnership with nurses and other health care professionals such as social workers, midwives, mental health professionals and community pharmacists to keep you, your family and your community well.
NPs have gained greater scope in practice since 2007, when the title of “nurse practitioner” first became protected in Ontario. University programs and speciality streams have grown to support NP practice across all sectors, including public health, primary care, home care, hospital care and long-term care.
In 2024, there were approximately 6,000 NPs in Ontario and 25 NPLCs in Ontario, including the 360 NPLC.
Is the 360 NPLC a walk-in clinic?
No. At Peterborough’s 360 NPLC, patients are registered with the clinic and receive their routine primary health care from us. NPs working in our clinic are paid a salary and do not work on a fee for service basis. NPLCs are different from walk-in clinics because they provide comprehensive health care over the course of the patient’s lifetime.
How is a nurse practitioner-led clinic different from other models of care?
NPLCs, like the 360 NPLC, provide the same comprehensive family health-care services as other family practice models.
An NPLC is different because the nurse practitioner is the primary health care provider. At our clinic, we work in a team-based model of care that includes NPs, registered nurses, social workers, community pharmacists and other health care professionals.
The key difference is that nurse practitioner leadership brings the focus to patients on wellbeing, health promotion and disease prevention, and to the day-to-day delivery of care. In this model, nurse practitioners and registered nurses work to their full scope of practice.
Our compassionate and collaborative approach at the 360 NPLC welcomes all patients, including individuals and families in Peterborough and area who experience barriers to health care. Our clinic NPs offer a particular expertise in providing care to those whose health is made vulnerable by poverty, homelessness, and other non-medical factors such as those experiencing stigma related to things such as sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health challenges, and race, that can increase a person’s likelihood of poor health. The aim of the NPLC is to be welcoming, ensure patients feel safe, and focus on patient-centred care and health equity.
The Peterborough 360 NPLC contributes significantly to primary care provision in Peterborough and is one of the local solutions to improving primary care access and attachment to a primary health care provider. If you are finding yourself without primary care in Peterborough, please ensure your health card is up to date and register with Health Care Connect online or at Service Ontario.
