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The Ontario government is enhancing patient access to care by broadening the scope of drugs that midwives can prescribe and administer, marking the first expansion since 2010. This update encompasses a range of new offerings such as routine vaccinations, remedies for nausea, vomiting, and acid reflux, as well as provisions for labor management, birth control, and the alleviation of labor pain within hospital environments.
“Our government is continuing to ensure people have access to the care they need, when they need it,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “By making changes to allow midwives to provide more care through additional treatments and more vaccines, we are connecting more people to convenient care, while reducing the need for referrals to other providers.”
The province of Ontario has implemented changes aligning with the extensive training and expertise of its highly skilled midwives. These changes empower midwives to:
- Administer routine vaccinations for diseases such as COVID-19, flu, RSV, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, rotavirus, and chickenpox.
- Prescribe medications including antibiotics like azithromycin and cefixime, additional antifungal treatments, antivirals to prevent herpes transmission to newborns, and various contraceptives for post-partum patients in different forms (oral, injectable, intravaginal, intrauterine, and transdermal).
- Provide treatments for nausea, syphilis, and gonorrhea, as well as administer naloxone to counteract opioid effects.
- Prescribe and administer additional vitamins, minerals, and fluid replacements.
- Administer labor pain management treatments in a hospital setting.
These initiatives are part of the “Your Health” plan, through which the Ontario government aims to facilitate highly skilled, regulated healthcare professionals, including midwives, to fully utilize their training and expertise for enhanced and convenient service delivery.
In addition:
- A record-breaking number of new healthcare professionals, including 17,000 nurses, thousands of PSWs, and 2,400 physicians (including over 1,000 internationally educated physicians), joined the workforce in 2023, with another 30,000 nurses currently undergoing training in Ontario.
- Midwives will need to demonstrate appropriate education for certain changes, supported by revised standards from the College of Midwives of Ontario and additional resources from the Association of Ontario Midwives.
- Collaboration between the ministry, the College of Midwives of Ontario, and the Association of Ontario Midwives aims to optimize the scope of midwifery practice.
- Over 850,000 pharmacist assessments have been conducted since pharmacists were authorized to treat and prescribe for 19 common medical conditions, with 97% of pharmacies in the province participating.
- Registered nurses have been authorized to prescribe medications, with 57 already authorized and close to 900 others in the process of meeting education requirements.
Quotes
“The College of Midwives of Ontario supports midwifery clients being able to access the care they need through their chosen provider. The expansion to the list of drugs and substances that midwives can prescribe and administer on their own authority will improve access to treatments for midwifery clients across the province. The College of Midwives of Ontario is proud to be a part of delivering this expansion with the Ministry of Health.”
– Kelly Dobbin
Registrar and CEO of the College of Midwives of Ontario
“As a midwife, this update to the midwifery drug regulation reflects a long-awaited step forward in recognizing the skilled and comprehensive care midwives provide to our clients. These changes will facilitate client access to timely and appropriate treatment, mitigate unnecessary delays and promote cost-efficiency within the health care system at a time when we are all feeling the impacts of the health human resource crisis. The Association of Midwives is supportive of regulatory amendments that reduce barriers to midwives practicing to their fullest scope and remains committed to ensuring accessible, high quality midwifery care to all Ontarians.”
– Jasmin Tecson, RM
President of the Association of Midwives Board of Directors
Photo Credit: Destination Ontario
The post Ontario Boosts Midwives’ Scope in Drug Prescriptions for Better Care for Patients appeared first on Travel And Tour World.
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