Retro-transfer refers to the transfer of pregnant patients and/or newborns who are no longer considered high-risk from a higher level of care (i.e. tertiary centre) to a lower level of care in order to meet their care needs at a centre closer to home. Healthcare providers and administrators can use the following tools to coordinate timely […]
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Infants, children and youth have unique healthcare needs compared to adults; a range of paediatric expertise and resources is essential in hospitals to ensure that paediatric inpatients receive appropriate, safe and quality care throughout the continuum of inpatient care. PCMCH developed three distinct paediatric levels of inpatient care that take into consideration the acuity of
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Substance use during pregnancy is a risk factor for negative pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Infants at risk for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are also at increased risk for pre-term birth, low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction. Substance use in pregnancy is also a marker for social and environmental risks that contribute to mental, physical
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Complex Care for Kids Ontario (CCKO) is a provincial program led by the Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health (PCMCH) to improve care continuity, collaboration, and service delivery in keeping with the needs and requirements of children/youth with medical complexity (CMC) and their families. The program aims to provide integrated and coordinated care across
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The Clinical Handbook for Low Risk Birth aims to address the variation in caesarean section rates across the province in the low-risk patient, promote normal birth and improve patient outcomes by focusing on delivery of standardized evidence-informed practices. The Clinical Handbook for Low Risk Birth was originally developed as part of the Ontario Health System
Children requiring emergency care have unique needs that are typically very different than those of adult patients, especially when the need for care is serious or life-threatening. Having the appropriate resources (e.g., infrastructure, equipment, supplies), staffing/training, paediatric-specific policies/procedures and quality improvement practices in place -in other words, “paediatric readiness’- is essential for an emergency department
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Neonatal follow-up plays a critical role in Ontario’s healthcare system, monitoring and offering early intervention for high-risk infants with varying diagnoses. The Neonatal Follow-Up Program (NFUP) refers to neonatal follow-up clinics collectively that are part of a larger collaborative provincial system. PCMCH has developed NFUP resources with the aims of reducing variations in practice among
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The Quality-Based Procedures (QBPs) for Paediatric Tonsillectomy with and without Adenoidectomy were developed as part of the Ontario Health System Funding Reform (HSFR) initiative. The purpose of the HSFR was to strengthen the link between high-quality healthcare delivery and fiscal sustainability. The QBPs for Paediatric Tonsillectomy with and without Adenoidectomy provide clinicians with evidence-based recommendations
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In 2018, PCMCH reviewed low-volume, rural and remote intrapartum services and completed an analysis of access to safe and high-quality intrapartum care services in lower-volume centres (less than 500 births a year) across Ontario. The gap analysis used a mixed-methods approach, including: An environmental scan Interviews with representatives from lower volume intrapartum care sites Data
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CritiCall Ontario connects physicians with neonatologists from Ontario’s designated pediatric hospitals when arranging patient transfers between facilities. The neonatologist can provide consultations and assist in coordinating with the designated neonatal – pediatric transport team the patient transfer to the facility equipped to provide the required advanced level of care. (See below.) Hospital-based physicians in Ontario
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