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Doctor numbers shrinking
by Doug Ashbury
NNSL (Aug 27/97) - The president of the North's medical association says if the number of doctors in Yellowknife keeps falling, patients could suffer. "Right now, numbers are stable. But if one or two physicians chose to leave, then there would be pressure on the system," NWT medical Association president Dr. David Butcher said Monday. "If one or two more physicians chose to leave, it would be hard to maintain current service levels." Yellowknifers already wait up to two weeks for a doctor's appointment. Two weeks is "a little longer than it has been," said Butcher. Ideally, it would be two to three days, he said. "The issue is not just access, it's timely access." Butcher estimated there are currently 22 primary-care physicians in Yellowknife, excluding specialists, compared with 24 at summer's start. But a 1996 physician resources plan concluded Yellowknife requires 26 primary-care physicians, he said. The existing 22 doctors also service the communities, he added. Further declines mean the communities will suffer even more that Yellowknife, he said. NWT Registered Nurses Association president Nell Vrolyk said if service is to be maintained, nurses must play an expanded role through nurse practitioning. Nurse practitioners assess the client, diagnose, treat and make doctor referrals. They would help "maintain a continuum and give stability" to health care in the North, she said. "The largest proportion of (NWT's) doctors are in Yellowknife and they have a massive workload. I think it could be spread out," Vrolyk said. North of 55 degrees longitude, three-quarters of health care in the North is administered by nurses, she said. The medical association is not opposed to principle care nursing in Yellowknife, Butcher said. But the association is concerned about the lack of standards, credentials and defined criteria for education and experience for principle care nursing, he said. "It has to be a collaborative role. We don't want there to be an either-or situation." |