Grant: Catalyst Grant: Bone Health

In Ontario, the majority of acute care for conditions of the spine, including both traumatic and non-traumatic cases, is delivered across the province of Ontario by spine specialists practicing in Ontario Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs). It has become challenging identifying centres with adequate resources to care for adult patients requiring these services. The coordination of these services is complex and involves ministries of health, surgeons and other medical staff, as well as patients and their families. Our study aims to speak with everyone involved in providing this care - including patients and their families - in order to determine how to better improve services to patients. Studying this area of bone health is important at this time. While improvements in access for musculoskeletal surgical procedures such as total joint replacement surgery as well as reductions in emergency room wait times have been reported, there remains a strong need to improve patient access and care for emergent conditions of the bony spine. The result of our research will be a rich description of how a number of different stakeholders are handling the problems of delivering emergent spine care in Ontario. This information will help us to improve how various professional groups work together toward the delivery of improved patient care.