Operating under the precautionary principle, one would assume that if a person is just an RN in a particular health centre, and their abilities, as I think I’ve understood it, are not as high as an NP…. You know, an NP makes different calls on being able to deal with a situation, and they are able to administer certain elements of a drug therapy, as opposed to maybe an RN whose skill level isn’t as high, as I pointed out, as an NP, and therefore may not be able to offer that service. So what they end up doing possibly — and I’ve heard this as a scenario — whereas both the professional levels…. It’s not a question of competency but their professional levels. They’re able to cause them to communicate with a doctor. Then again, back to that cautionary principle, the call is then made to say, “Well, we’re not sure, but we think let’s just send this person in,” because that’s the safest process.
That’s why I think the human resource level at these areas should be considered at the same time. Are we staffing them to the appropriate level? Is there an NP in every health centre? I don’t know. I think maybe that should be examined. Whether we can staff it or not, that becomes a different type of question. But the fact is: are the resources there at the appropriate level?
Has there been any analysis that the Minister can provide as to how often, and where, most of these medevacs — things such as medevacs, that is — are coming from? Does she rate the community? Do they track how many per community?