Team Up! Team-based primary and community care in action

In the first episode of Season 7 of TeamUP!, hosts Morgan and Sarah introduce the season's focus on the role of nurses in primary care. This season will feature interview insights from a range of nurses.
In this episode, Morgan and Sarah discuss the new Nurse in Practice program in BC and explore how nurses can enhance team-based care in primary care clinics. This first episode gives a brief overview of all the topics they aim to cover throughout the season, including: how to support a nurse in your practice, being an employer, and the differences among the nursing designations, along with focused episodes on common conditions like diabetes and anxiety. This episode also highlights a new tool called the Nurse Compass, designed as a learning tool to help primary care clinics understand the scope of nursing roles so that roles can be aligned with practice needs.

Special Thanks

Throughout this season you’ll hear from several amazing nurses:
  • Angela Wignall is a Registered Nurse who has worked in perinatal health and public health. Since recording this episode Angela has been promoted to the CEO of the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC from her position as Senior Executive Director. Angela is also a board member at the Canadian Nurses Association.
  • Diana Boateng is a Registered Nurse and is working on her dual master’s degree in nursing and health informatics. In her Masters, she is a co-op student working with the Innovation Support Unit. Her background is mostly in acute care but she has been interested in exploring what it means to be a nurse in primary care.
  • Hannah Roy works as a Registered Nurse in primary care and urgent primary care. She has certified practice in STI management and is completing her Masters degree to be a nurse practitioner.
  • Jamie Duteil is a Registered Nurse and the Health System Improvement Director at Health Quality BC. She has managed urgent primary care centres and acute care centres.
  • Kacey Wall is a Registered Nurse and a diabetes educator, she has worked in primary care networks and is a team member of the Innovation Support Unit.
  • Nikki Kafal is a Registered Nurse and has spent her career working in emergency and critical care settings. She is completing a dual master degree in nursing and health informatics and joins the Innovation Support Unit as a co-op student.
Links and Resources

What is Team Up! Team-based primary and community care in action?

A podcast that brings together primary care providers, healthcare planners, patients, innovators and others to talk about the changes that are happening in primary care in British Columbia.

Morgan: Are you in primary care?

Do you want to

Sarah: Hey, Morgan!

Wait, I'm the one who's supposed to be
asking questions this season, right?

Morgan: Oh, right, right.

Sorry, Sarah.

It's a habit.

Uh, the mic is all yours.

Sarah: Alright, let's try this again.

Are you in primary care?

Do you want to know more about how
nurses could help your patients?

Do you want to know about how
nurses work with you as a team?

Yeah, me too.

Morgan: Sarah, we're kicking
off season seven of Team Up and

focusing on nurses in primary care.

Sarah: Right, Morgan, and
there's been a lot of work in B.

C.

getting the new nurse in practice
program running and off the ground.

Other provinces we know are also
looking into ways to have more

nurses engaged in primary care.

Morgan: Now, we know nurses have been
doing primary care for an awfully long

time, but the program in BC is new.

And so, Michael and I, we're
this season's directors.

We wanted to focus this season on
bringing nurses into primary care

practices given this new program.

Sarah: And so this season, I think I'm
going to be the one asking the questions

and you get to share what you've
learned with me and with our listeners.

,
Morgan: Absolutely.

Sarah: So let's dive into
what we're talking about.

Morgan, what kinds of things are
you wanting to cover in this season?

Morgan: So Sarah, I learned a lot as
we started digging into this topic.

And I wanted to focus on some of the
early questions people might have

when a nurse is joining your practice.

So starting first with some high level
stuff, like, What is nursing as a

profession and what is some of the scope?

That idea of being both an employer
and a clinical colleague, which is

kind of tricky, and then getting
into how to promote a new nurse

in your practice to patients.

Sarah: Oh, and you know, that's
something we heard so much about when

we started thinking about how does
team based care get communicated, not

just to the team, but to patients.

I'm definitely interested there.

Morgan: It's a big part of
how you make that change.

And then in the second half of the
season, I want us to dive into some common

conditions and workflows, thinking about
things like diabetes and anxiety and

how you can work together as a team to
support patients with those conditions.

And it's not just going to be me
in this season talking as a doctor

about what I think nurses should do.

We're going to hear from
several nurses as well.

Sarah: Oh, I'm really excited about this.

I know I've been a little bit removed from
all the conversations that you and Michael

have had in the background, with nurses
and with some of our, close collaborators,

but I'm just really excited to learn.

So who did you and Michael
talk to for this season?

Morgan: We reached out to a whole range of
amazing nurses with a bunch of different

backgrounds and different practices.

And collectively we've got expertise
and experience in primary care, diabetes

education, geriatrics, public health.

policy and leadership, acute care,
inner city primary care, emergency

medicine, urgent primary care
centers, the ICU, and even the ISU.

So, I can't wait to introduce you to
them along the way as we hear parts of

their stories throughout the season.

Some of the voices will be
familiar to our audience.

Some of them are gonna be new as well.

I

Sarah: I'm really, really
excited about this.

How do people make time
to build the team though?

Morgan: So Sarah, I've worked with each
of these nurses that we spoke with in

different roles, in clinical or, or
leadership or in different committees.

And the interviews have been really
enlightening because I've, I've

learned more about each one of the
people that we've got to talk to.

Sarah: I think that really actually
speaks to the importance of relationship

here and making time to build team.

Morgan: Yeah, exactly.

And I understood their philosophy and
approach through those interviews that

didn't come across in the work that
we're doing in some places, and I hope

it comes across throughout the season.

Sarah: So when is the season
going to be kicking off?

Morgan: Well, if people are listening
right now, then we've kicked it off.

We're planning weekly episodes, and we
have about 10 episodes that Michael and

I have written that we want to share.

We're also keen to take
questions and suggestions.

So if people want to reach
out by email, we'll pull those

questions into an episode.

Sarah: Oh, I would love to do kind of an
Ask Us Anything episode with questions.

So please do reach out.

Morgan: Yeah, I'd love that too.

We could also do some shorter
episodes with specific questions

depending on what we get.

Sarah: But there's also more
here, not just an Ask Us Anything.

We also wanted to really promote
some related work that's quite

exciting that's just launched.

we've developed a new tool for primary
care practices called the Nurse Compass,

and it's hosted at teambasedcarebc.

ca if you want to have a look.

Morgan: Sarah, we designed the Nurse
Compass to be a quick tool to help primary

care clinics start to explore the scope
of nursing practice in primary care.

So in the tool, you can select some
common primary care reasons for visit

and see how the different nurses
scopes of practice match those visits.

Sarah: And this was really a
great collaborative effort.

I think we learned so much about the
complexity of scope in this space

when we started pulling this together.

We worked really closely with
Health Quality BC, with the Nurses

and Nurse Practitioners of BC,
The BC College of Nurses and

Midwives, and others on the content.

We kept it really simple and focused,
so it's a quick tool to help practices

do some early exploration and
learning about scopes of practice.

It is really meant to be
sort of a learning tool.

It's not comprehensive, and this is
intentional, to make it accessible.

And I think there's a lot more
information that you can get in

this space from NNPBC and BCCNM.

Morgan: Absolutely.

And I want to especially thank
our team who took this idea

months ago and ran with it.

So thanks to Tlell and thanks to
Kacey for really running within

our team and to Jamie from HQBC.

So if you're listening to this
podcast from outside of BC, welcome.

we are referencing a couple
of BC specific resources.

So please look to your own regional and
primary care leaders for materials that

are relevant for your jurisdiction.

As things will be a little bit different.

I know in BC we're getting some
supports through our family practice

services committee and the nurses
and nurse practitioners of BC.

And you'll probably have something
similar in your jurisdiction.

Sarah, I'm excited to kick off season
seven with episodes coming every week.

Sarah: Me too.

And I'm really going to have so
many great questions for you,

Morgan, as we go through this.

Morgan: I'll try to be ready.

Sarah: Thanks so much for listening,
and if you have any questions

or topic suggestions, please
email us at isu at familymed.

ubc.

ca.

The Innovation Support Unit is a
distributed multidisciplinary team.

We work mostly remotely from communities
across the Lower Mainland and

Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Morgan: Sarah and I are both recording
from our offices in the territories

of the Lekwungen speaking peoples, the
Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.

Sarah: And recognizing the colonial
history and the ongoing impacts of

colonization and healthcare systems
and in Indigenous communities in

Canada and around the world, as we
move through the season, we'll work

to bring an equity lens to this work.

And we really encourage you, our
listener, to reflect on your past,

present, and future participation.

On the indigenous lands
where you are situated.

Morgan: we'll see you in
the next episode of team up.