Themes:

Primary Care

The theme -Primary Care- refers to Barbara Starfield’s definition as: “the first point entry to a health care system; the provider of person-focused (not disease-oriented) care over time; the deliverer of care for all but the most uncommon conditions; and the part of the system that integrates or co-ordinates care provided elsewhere or by others.” (p.9)

 

Reference: Starfield B. Primary care: balancing health needs, services and technology. New York: Oxford University Press; 1998

Research Funding

The Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU) Community Partnership Program for Diabetes Self-Management for Older Adults - Canada.

Purpose: To further test the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU) - Community Partnership Program (CPP) in diverse primary care and community settings, with diverse populations and across...

 Active

 2018-2023

Co-Primary Investigator

Primary Health Care as the Foundation for Health System Performance, Integration and Sustainability: INSPIRE-PHC-2 - Building Primary Health Care and Public Health Collaboration with and for the Community

A prospective case study design will be used to explore the implementation and outcomes of an intervention to stimulate a primary care and public health collaboration in an urban neighbourhood in...

 Active

 2018-2020

Primary Investigator

Integrating Registered Nurses into Primary Care Across Canada

Purpose: To use a systematic approach to identify national family practice (FP) nursing competencies to support the integration and optimization of Registered Nurses (RNs) in primary care. Research...

 Active

 2018-2019

Co-Investigator

Patient/Caregiver Engagement in Community-Based Research on Older Adults

The goal of our proposed project is to evaluate a) our engagement approaches and b) the impacts of involving older adult patients and family caregivers in the design and implementation of...

 2016-2018

Primary Investigator

Contributing to, and Learning from, the Lives of Older Adults: Practical learning experiences in the care of older adults as trained community volunteers for health care

Health TAPESTRY (Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality) is a community-based approach, centered in primary care, which aims to promote optimal aging through four...

 Active

 2016-2017

Co-Primary Investigator

TAPESTRY: Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality

Health TAPESTRY works to help people stay healthier for longer in the places where they live. The health goals of our clients are the basis for engaging people in meaningful ways. We are doing this...

 Active

 2013-2016

Co-Investigator

Advancing a pan-Canadian primary care framework: optimizing the role of Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners.

This research project was undertaken for the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) by the Canadian Centre for Advanced Practice Nursing Research. This report summarizes the issues and policy options and...

 Completed

 2013-2014

Co-Investigator

Building Primary Health Care Nursing Leadership to Enhance Collaboration between Primary Health Care and Public Health

The objectives of this four and a half year program of research were to: explore structures and processes required to build successful collaborations between PC and PH; understand the nature of...

 Completed

 2008-2012

Primary Investigator

Home & Community Care with a focus on transitions between institutional and community care settings. Ontario SPOR Support Unit – IMPACT Award Home & Community Care

This is a pragmatic effectiveness-implementation trial to evaluate a hospital-to-home transitional care intervention compared to usual care for older adults with multiple chronic conditions and...

 Active

 Feb. 1, 2016- Sept. 30, 2016

Co-Investigator

Scholarly Work

Canadian Centre for Advanced Practice Nursing Research (CCAPNR) Faculty Member

CCAPNR involves a group of multi-disciplinary, university-based researchers dedicated to creating new solutions for problems that challenge health and social services through the use of new models of care and evaluation. The team engages in research and professional education activities to address CCAPNR goals.

 Active

Committees

Deputy Director, World health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) for Primary Care and Health Human Resource

Since 2009, Dr. Ruta Valaitis has been a Deputy Director, World health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) for Primary Care and Health Human Resources. Dr. Valaitis was elected Secretary to the Pan American Nursing and Midwifery Collaborating Centres Network (PANNMCC) and served in that role from 2011 to 2013.

 Active

Committees

PANMCC Webinar Series

WHO Collaborating Centers are designated by the Director-General, WHO, as part of an inter-institutional collaborative network of centers worldwide. They are established to provide concrete activities at the national, regional, and global levels, in support of the strategic plans of specific WHO areas of work.

 Active

Projects

A Canadian application of EUGENIE – a web-based application to support high older adult users of emergency rooms to access community health and social services assisted by trained primary health care volunteers

EU-GENIE is an online tool that volunteers can use with clients. It can help them describe their support network and can link them to relevant local community resources that are tailored to the interests of the client.

 Completed

Projects

A Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Using the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY) Platform Approach to Promote Person-centred Primary Health Care for Older Adults

The objective of this study is to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY) approach in older adults.

 Completed

Articles

A Questionnaire for Assessing Community Health Nurses’ Learning Needs

This article reports on the development and psychometric testing of a learning needs assessment questionnaire related to the Canadian community health nursing Standards of practice.

 Completed

Articles

A Scoping Literature Review of Collaboration Between Primary Care and Public Health

The purpose of this scoping literature review was to determine what is known about: 1) structures and processes required to build successful collaborations between primary care (PC) and public health (PH); 2) outcomes of such collaborations; and 3) markers of their success.

 Completed

Articles

Addressing Quadruple Aims through Primary Care and Public Health Collaboration: Ten Canadian Case Studies.

his study aimed to explore the nature of Canadian primary care - public health collaborations, their aims, motivations, activities, collaboration barriers and enablers, and perceived outcomes.

 Completed

Articles

Advanced Practice Nursing: A Strategy for Achieving Universal Health Coverage and Universal Access to Health

This paper examines advanced practice nursing (APN) roles internationally to inform role development in Latin America and the Caribbean to support universal health coverage and universal access to health.

 Completed

Articles

Advancing a Pan-Canadian Primary Care Framework: Optimizing the Role of Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners: Final Report

A technical report commissioned by the Canadian Nurses Association, 1-116, 2014. This report summarizes the issues and policy options and will inform CNA’s future role and strategies for advancing a pan-Canadian primary care framework that optimizes the role of registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice nurses in primary care interprofessional teams.

 Completed

Reports

Affiliate Network Member, Primary Health Care System (PHCS)

In 2010 -2015, Dr. Ruta Valaitis became an Affiliate Network Member, Primary Health Care System (PHCS).

 Completed

Committees

An Environmental Scan of Health and Social System Navigation Services in an Urban Canadian Community

Systems navigation services provided by a designated provider or team have the potential to address health and social disparities. We conducted an environmental scan of navigation activities in a large urban Canadian community to identify and describe: service providers who engage in systems navigation; the clients who require systems navigation support and the issues they face; activities involved; and barriers and facilitators in providing systems navigation support to clients.

 Completed

Articles

An Environmental Scan of Primary Care and Public Health in the Province of British Columbia

This report describes an environmental scan that was completed in May 2009 of primary care and public health in the province of British Columbia (BC) as one of a series of steps in a larger program of research: Strengthening Primary Health Care through Primary Care and Public Health Collaboration Study (Strengthening PHC Study).

 Completed

Reports

An Environmental Scan of Primary Care and Public Health in the Province of Nova Scotia

This report describes an environmental scan that was completed in July 2009 of primary care and public health in the province of Nova Scotia (NS) as one of a series of steps in a larger program of research: Strengthening Primary Health Care through Primary Care and Public Health Collaboration Study (Strengthening PHC Study).

 Completed

Reports

An Environmental Scan of Primary Care and Public Health in the Province of Ontario

This report describes an environmental scan, which includes information up to May 2009, related to primary care (PC) and public health (PH) in the province of Ontario (ON). It is one of a series of steps in a larger program of research entitled: Strengthening Primary Health Care through Primary Care and Public Health Collaboration Study (Strengthening PHC Study).

 Completed

Reports

An Online Toolkit to Support Public Health and Primary Care Collaboration

The aim of this toolkit is to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that support the development and maintenance of successful collaborations between primary care and public health. This toolkit is for practitioners, managers, policy makers, and students from a variety of disciplines working in primary care and public health.

 Completed

Projects

Benchmarking for Nurse Practitioner Caseload and Comparative Analysis of Nurse Practitioner Pay Scales: Final Report

We conducted a scoping review of the international literature on patient panel size for NPs in primary healthcare from 2000 to 2013 and updated the review in 2014

 Completed

Projects

Brokering for the Primary Health Care Needs of Recent Immigrant Families in Atlantic, Canada

This case study describes how broker organizations supported a network of community-based services to work together to address the primary healthcare needs of recent immigrant families with young children.

 Completed

Articles

Capacity development among academic trainees in community-based primary health care research: The Aging, Community and Health Research Unit Experience

The Aging, Community and Health Research Unit at McMaster University has purposefully employed a capacity building model for interdisciplinary trainee development. This paper describes the processes and outcomes of the model, outlining how the provision of funding, mentorship, and a unique learning environment enables capacity building in networking, collaboration, leadership development, and knowledge mobilization among its early career interdisciplinary PHC trainees. The reciprocal advancement of the research unit through the knowledge and productivity of trainees will also be detailed.

 Completed

Articles

Combining volunteers and primary care teamwork to support health goals and needs of older adults: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial

The Health TAPESTRY (Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: STRengthening qualitY) intervention was designed to improve primary care teamwork and promote optimal aging. We evaluated the effectiveness of Health TAPESTRY in attaining goals of older adults (e.g., physical activity, productivity, social connection, medical status) and other outcomes.

 Completed

Articles

Community Health Nurses’ Learning Needs in Relation to the Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice: Results from a Canadian survey

Canadian Community health nurses (CHNs) work in diverse urban, rural, and remote settings such as: public health units/departments, home health, community health facilities, family practices, and other community-based settings.

 Completed

Articles

Competence Trust Among Providers as Fundamental to a Culturally Competent Primary Health Care System for Immigrant Families

The aim was to explore how an organization's trust in the cultural competency of other service providers (competence trust) can influence the effectiveness of a services network in meeting the needs of recent immigrant families.

 Completed

Articles

Evolution and 15-year effect of a pan-Canadian training program: Transdisciplinary understanding and training on research – primary health care

Addressing complex primary health care (PHC) questions requires the knowledge, skills, and effective collaboration of interdisciplinary research teams. The Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research–Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC) program, which is unique in Canada because of its size and reach across the country, was developed for interdisciplinary PHC research capacity building. As this year marks the program’s 15th anniversary, this article will describe this one-of-a-kind training program’s evolution and effect.

 Completed

Articles

Exploration of volunteers as health connectors within a multicomponent primary care‐based program supporting self‐management of diabetes and hypertension

This study describes the effectiveness, feasibility and effects of a volunteer program evaluation framework in primary care.

 Completed

Articles

Health TAPESTRY: Co-designing interprofessional primary care programs for older adults using the persona-scenario method

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a modified approach to the persona-scenario method was used to co-design a complex primary health care intervention (Health TAPESTRY) by and for older adults and providers and the value added of this approach.

 Completed

Articles

Implementation and maintenance of patient navigation programs linking primary care with community-based health and social services: a scoping literature review

This paper fills a gap in knowledge to reveal what is known about motivators and factors influencing implementation and maintenance of patient navigation programs in primary care that link patients to community-based health and social services. It also reports on outcomes from these studies to help identify gaps in research that can inform future studies.

 Completed

Articles

Implementation Strategy for Advanced Practice Nursing in Primary Health Care in Latin America and the Caribbean

Advanced practice nursing (APN) is a term used to describe a variety of possible nursing roles operating at an advanced level of practice. The introduction of APN roles is expected to advance primary health care throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, where few such roles exist. The purpose of the paper is to outline an implementation strategy to guide and support the introduction of primary health care APN roles in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 Completed

Articles

Invited advisor on a realist review pertaining to primary care and public health collaboration related to social pediatrics led by researchers at Public Health Ontario

Dr. Ingrid Tyler's, Public Health Ontario, presentation on 'The Social Pediatrics Realist Review' focussed interest on child and maternal health and related social pediatrics, as well as, advancing primary care/public health collaboration in this area. Dr. Ruta Valaitis was an invited advisor on this presentation.

 Completed

Committees

Invited Faculty for Canadian Institutes of Health Research - IHSPR-IPPH Primary Health Care Summer Institute.

The Summer Institute is aimed at graduate students from across Canada.

 Completed

Committees

Invited member of Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-term Care’s Primary Care Advisory Group- providing advice on primary care reform for Ontario

Dr. Ruta Valaitis was an invited member of Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-term Care’s Primary Care Advisory Group providing advice on primary care reform for Ontario.

 Completed

Committees

Invited Member of the MOHLTC Family Health Team Action Group Sub-committee on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

During 2006 - 2007, Dr. Ruta Valaitis served as an invited member of the Ministry of health and Long Term care (MOHLTC) Family Health Team (FHT) Action Group Sub-committee on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP).

 Completed

Committees

Invited Member of the Working Group for the Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Primary Health Care Planning Group: Working Group 2: Strengthening Primary Care Access

Invited Working Group Member: Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Primary Health Care Planning Group: Working Group 2: Strengthening Primary Care Access. The report was completed August 2011.

 Completed

Committees

Invited Member: Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Reference Group on Primary Health Care

Invited Member: Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Reference Group on Primary Health Care (2011-2014)

 Completed

Committees

Methods, Strategies and Technologies Used to Conduct a Scoping Literature Review of Collaboration Between Primary Care and Public Health

This paper describes the methods, strategies and technologies used to conduct a scoping literature review examining primary care (PC) and public health (PH) collaboration. It presents challenges encountered as well as recommendations and 'lessons learned' from conducting the review with a large geographically distributed team comprised of researchers and decision-makers using an integrated knowledge translation approach.

 Completed

Articles

Navigation delivery models and roles of navigators in primary care: a scoping literature review

We conducted a scoping literature review following established methods to explore the existing evidence on system navigation in primary care. To be included, studies had to be published in English between 1990 and 2013, and include a navigator or navigation process in a primary care setting that involves the community- based social services beyond the health care system. We make an important contribution to the literature by highlighting navigation models that address both health and social service navigation. T

 Completed

Articles

Nurse Practitioner Caseload in Primary Health Care: Scoping Review

To identify recommendations for determining patient panel/caseload size for nurse practitioners in community-based primary health care settings. There are few systems in place to track and measure community-based primary health care nurse practitioner activities. The development of such mechanisms is an important next step to assess community-based primary health care nurse practitioner productivity and determine patient panel/caseload size.

 Completed

Articles

Optimizing Registered Nurse Roles in the Delivery of Cancer Survivorship Care within Primary Care Settings

To address increasing pressures for cancer survivorship care, provincial cancer agencies have introduced new models of post-treatment follow-up involving earlier transition of cancer survivors back to primary care (PC) providers. It is unknown how nurses in PC settings have responded to this practice change. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine registered nurses' (RNs) perspectives of the strengths, gaps, barriers and opportunities for optimizing nursing roles in the delivery of cancer survivorship care within PC settings.

 Completed

Articles

Organizational factors influencing successful primary care and public health collaboration

Building on a scoping literature review, our study aimed to identify the influencing factors within these organizations that affect the ability of these health care sectors to collaborate with one another in the Canadian context. Relationships between these factors were also explored.

 Completed

Articles

Organizational factors influencing successful primary care and public health collaboration

Building on a scoping literature review, our study aimed to identify the influencing factors within these organizations that affect the ability of these health care sectors to collaborate with one another in the Canadian context. Relationships between these factors were also explored.

 Completed

Articles

Patient Care Groups: A new model of population based primary health care for Ontario

A report on behalf of the Primary Health Care Expert Advisory Committee. In late 2013 the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (the “ministry”) convened the Expert Advisory Committee on Strengthening Primary Health Care in Ontario to address current challenges in Ontario’s primary care system. The ministry identified four policy questions of particular interest which are addressed in this report, May 2015.

 Completed

Reports

Perceptions of older adults in Ontario, Canada on the implementation and impact of a primary care programme, Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY): A descriptive qualitative study

The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of older adults on the implementation and impact of Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY), a multicomponent primary care programme that seeks to improve care coordination for individuals through health-related goal-setting supported by trained lay volunteers who are an extension of an interprofessional team, and the use of technology to support communication among the team.

 Completed

Articles

Persona-scenario Exercise for Co-designing Primary Care Interventions

The persona-scenario exercise, an alternative to traditional strategies, originated from the field of human computer interface design. This project used this methodology adapted by Dr. Valaitis from participatory approaches used in eHealth. This article describes how persona-scenario exercises were applied in the codesign of the complex primary health care intervention TAPESTRY (Teams Advancing Patient Experiences: Strengthening Quality).

 Completed

Articles

Pilot randomized controlled trial of a complex intervention for diabetes self-management supported by volunteers, technology, and interprofessional primary health care teams

Most health care for people with diabetes occurs in family practice, yet balancing the time and resources to help these patients can be difficult. An intervention empowering patients, leveraging community resources, and assisting self-management could benefit patients and providers. Thus, the feasibility and potential for effectiveness of “Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience, Strengthening Quality through Health Connectors for Diabetes Management” (Health TAPESTRY-HC-DM) as an approach supporting diabetes self-management was explored to inform development of a future large-scale trial.

 Completed

Articles

Primary Health Care and Nursing Education in the 21st Century: A discussion paper

Report to the WHO, Series Number 16, March 2009. Primary health care (PHC) is a philosophy and an educational practice approach. Nursing is one of the key services for the delivery of PHC. The purpose of this background paper is to examine PHC education for nurses in the globalized world.

 Completed

Reports

Protocol for a program of research from the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit: Promoting optimal aging at home for older adults with multimorbidity

The goal of the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU) is to promote optimal aging at home for older adults with multimorbidity (≥2 chronic conditions) and to support their family/friend caregivers. This protocol paper reports the rationale and plan for this patient-oriented, cross-jurisdictional research program.

 Completed

Articles

Research Uptake Strategies: An Ontario think tank on strengthening collaboration between public and primary care

A full day think tank on strengthening collaboration between public health and primary care was held at Public Health Ontario in Toronto in 2012.

 Completed

Projects

Strengthening primary health care through primary care and public health collaboration: the influence of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors

The aim of this paper is to examine Canadian key informants’ perceptions of intrapersonal (within an individual) and interpersonal (among individuals) factors that influence successful primary care and public health collaboration

 Completed

Articles

Strengthening Primary Health Care Through Public Health and Primary Care Collaboration: Final Report

Final Report to Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF), 2012. ISBN 978-1-927565-02-5.

 Completed

Reports

Viewpoints About Collaboration Between Primary Care and Public Health in Canada

Although there is a global movement toward health system integration and collaboration, little is known about values, beliefs, and attitudes towards collaboration between stakeholders in public health (i.e. promotion, protection, and prevention with vulnerable groups and/or at the population level) and primary care (i.e., family practices, nurse-led clinics).

 Completed

Articles

What systemic factors contribute to collaboration between primary care and public health sectors? An interpretive descriptive study

The purpose of this paper is to report: 1) what systemic factors influence collaborations between PC and PH; and 2) how systemic factors interact and could influence collaboration.

 Completed

Articles

“Primary care is primary care”: Use of normalization process theory to explore the implementation of primary care services for transgender individuals in Ontario

The purpose of this study is to understand how the implementation of primary care services for transgender individuals compares across various models of primary care delivery in Ontario.

 Completed

Articles

Students

Picture Name Degree Ruta's Role Thesis Topic More Info
Dr. Judy Burgess Dr. Judy Burgess Post-Doctoral Fellow Co-Supervisor A Tool to Evaluate Interprofessional Teams in Primary Care More Info.
Rojin Karimi Rojin Karimi MS eHealth Supervisor Design of an e-Health tool to link primary care providers with home care to support stroke patients More Info.
Leena Wu Chau  Leena Wu Chau MSc Co-Supervisor Primary care and public health collaboration: A population health approach in the delivery of mental health care More Info.
Jennifer Nicholl Jennifer Nicholl MScN Supervisor Community Nurse Networker: A Priority Neighbourhood Pilot Project More Info.
Jane Sparkes Jane Sparkes MS eHealth Supervisor A usability study of patients in their own homes as they set up a cardiac event loop record and Blackberry gateway for remote monitoring More Info.
Rebecca Spark Rebecca Spark MScN Supervisor An exploration of experiences of academics and decision-makers in a collaborative program of research More Info.
Kristina Chang Kristina Chang MScN Supervisory Committee Member Patient engagement in community-based intervention research More Info.
Stephanie Chiu Stephanie Chiu MS eHealth Supervisory Committee Member Developing the Design for an Online Diuretic Care Tool for Older Patients with Heart Failure by Evaluating its Interactions with Heart Failure Patients and Caregivers More Info.
Janice Feather Janice Feather MScN Supervisory Committee Member A Narrative Exploration of a Nurse Navigator Role in Primary Care More Info.
Lindsay Yuille Lindsay Yuille MScN Supervisory Committee Member Primary Care Nursing Roles in Cancer Support More Info.
Kenneth Nwosu Kenneth Nwosu MS eHealth Supervisory Committee Member Design and Evaluation of a Two Way Interactive Video eConsult System (TWIVES): A Web-Based Care and Continuity Solution Enabling Secure and Private Patient-Provider Connections When Mobility is Limited or Commuting is Not an Option More Info.
Sandra Isaacs Sandra Isaacs PhD Supervisor How community-based services work together to address the primary health care needs of recent immigrant children More Info.
Erin Ziegler Erin Ziegler PhD Supervisor LGBT populations and access to primary care More Info.
Tracey Lovett Tracey Lovett MScN Supervisory Committee Member Exploring structures and processes that support collaborative practice amongst community health nurses who work with breastfeeding families More Info.