Launched in 2021, Complex Care for Kids Ontario (CCKO)’s Nursing Community of Practice (CoP) is advancing province-wide access to integrated care and coordination for children and youth with complex medical needs.
What is the Nursing CoP?
The Nursing CoP supports the CCKO program by providing a dedicated network for CCKO nurses to enhance capacity building, share best practices, and foster collaboration between the program’s four regional lead sites and 17 satellite clinics, in addition to a newly established Northern site in Sudbury. This promotes consistency in standards, implementation and evaluation when it comes to providing complex care for children and youth in Ontario.
Membership includes nurse practitioners (NPs), who play an important role in the CCKO program by providing medical care coordination in hospital settings and maintaining strong connections with community care providers, as well as any nursing roles from CCKO’s four regional lead sites.
How does the Nursing CoP work?
CCKO’s Nursing CoP utilizes Quorum — an online platform hosted by Ontario Health – allowing members to regularly share information and stay connected, in addition to meetings. PCMCH hosts and coordinates the CoP, with regional lead sites taking turns moderating meetings and generating topics for discussion. Topics range from practice improvements to research innovation to transitioning patients to adult care and more.
“The Community of Practice allows me to network with other NPs within the complex care community,” says Carly Mauro, who is the first NP hired in Northeastern Ontario at NEO Kids. “Through the Community of Practice, I have quick and easy access to knowledgeable and experienced complex care NPs who are extremely responsive. One of the most remarkable aspects of the Community of Practice is that it is filled with NPs who are extremely passionate about and dedicated to their work.”
Identifying gaps in care for children and youth with medical complexities
The Nursing CoP plays a key role in informing on quality improvement opportunities in CCKO, some of which have been incorporated into CCKO’s strategic priorities, including the development of two recent standardized resources: a referral process for existing patients to other complex care clinics; and practice guidelines for effective collaboration between Home and Community Care Support Services (HCCSS) care coordinators and CCKO nurse practitioners.
“The Nursing CoP has been instrumental to CCKO,” says PCMCH Senior Program Manager Lisa Osqui, who supports the group’s work. “Not only does it strengthen collaboration and knowledge sharing and promote best practices across Ontario, but it also helps PCMCH inform the CCKO workplan priorities and quality improvement initiatives, consistently adding value to the program.”
To learn more about CCKO, please visit the CCKO webpage.