We now only have access to X-ray services on Saturdays. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
Nurse Employment Opportunity at kidEcare
Job Description: Nurse
Location: Suite 301, 491 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto, M5N 1A8
Shifts: 6pm to approximately 11pm Monday to Friday, 10am to approximately 5pm Saturday and Sunday
Pay: $30 per hour
Clinic Description: Pediatric urgent care walk-in clinic in Forest Hill, Toronto. Services children for a variety of urgent care issues. Onsite X-Ray services.
Clinic Mandate: The kidEcare team manages urgent but non life-threatening illnesses or injuries such as cuts, fevers, colds, viruses, minor burns, sprains, strains, simple fractures etc. Patients are seen by a pediatrician.
Duties: During each shift, there is at least one physician, one nurse, and one clerk. The nurse is responsible for maintaining the flow of patients, primary assessments, and assisting the physician. Nursing tasks include triage, basic vitals/assessment, preparing the rooms for the next patients, bringing patients in and parent teaching and education. Common procedures that the nurse will perform/assist with include urine catheterization, stitching or gluing lacerations, applying casts, etc.
Qualifications:
The successful candidates must:
- Maintain registration and licensure with the College of Nurses of Ontario
- Be comfortable working independently with other physicians
- Be able to work at a quick pace
- Be comfortable and have sufficient experience working with children.
It would be considered an asset if the succesful candidate
- Has experience 1) performing urine catheterizations, 2) casting, and 3) gluing lacerations.
Reporting:
The Nurse will operate under the direction of the pediatrician on duty, also reporting to Maggie Murray, the Operations Manager.
For Further Information:
If you are interested in this position, please forward a resume and cover letter, along with references, to Maggie Murray, at [email protected]
Physician Work Opportunity at kid-E-care
Work Opportunity for Physicians at kid-E-care, a Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic in Mid-Town Toronto
About kidEcare:
kidEcare is an after-hours pediatric urgent care clinic in mid-town Toronto. We are currently looking for physicians who may wish to join our team.
Qualifications:
The job requires that the physician (pediatrician, emergency medicine, family doctor) has experience and expertise working 1) in an emergency department and 2) with pediatric patients.
Location:
491 Eglinton Avenue West Suite 301
Shift times:
Weeknights: 6PM – 10PM.
Weekends: 10AM – 1PM , 1 – 4PM, or 10AM – 4PM
Work load:
Average number of patients seen per weeknight: 15-25
Average number of patients seen per weekend: 30-50
Work environment:
A typical shift includes:
- A receptionist who manages registrations and patient flow
- A nurse who performs initial triage, obtains vitals, and provides general medical support for the physician
- A physician (or more when extremely busy) who conducts the patient assessments.
Payment:
kidEcare charges 30% of the physician’s gross billings.
kid-E-care Culture:
kid-E-care was conceived by a group of Toronto Pediatricians to help unburden Toronto emergency departments and to service mid-town Toronto families with a pediatric urgent care center, a service that was both missing from the community and in very high demand.
kidEcare strives to make its work environment pleasant, team spirited, and patient/family-centered. The clinic has a modern upscale decor with state-of-the-art equipment.
More information:
For more information about kidEcare, please have a look at our website. If you are interested in joining, or would like further information about the opportunity, please email [email protected]
Minimizing Wait Times At kid-E-care
One of our priorities at kidEcare is to limit wait times for our patients. As word spreads about our team and services, demand is increasing and as a consequence, so have wait times – it seems that the first 2 hours of clinic are particularly busy. We have noticed, however, that even on the busiest days, there are quiet times when patients are in-and-out in less than 30 minutes.
You may have noticed that this kidEcare web site posts live wait times – you can see it at the upper-right corner of this page just below the logo (If clinic is closed, it will say what day and time clinic will re-open). We believe that by posting this information for patients and families, we can help them to choose the best time (i.e. with shortest wait) to come into clinic.
The next time you visit kidEcare, we encourage you to check the wait time before coming. By choosing a quieter time, it may save you and your family an hour or two of your day.
Of course, if your concern is more urgent and cannot wait, come right away or proceed immediately to your nearest emergency department.
Wishing everyone a sunny, relaxing, and fun-filled summer.
The kidEcare team.
Customer Service in Health Care
Free healthcare; isn’t that amazing? Well, healthcare in Canada is far from free. It’s actually rather expensive, costing $4,443, per Canadian per year (WHO, 2013). It just seems free because it’s paid for via taxation and not on a “per encounter” basis like dentists, lawyers and almost all other services we pay for. “Customer” or “client” isn’t a word we hear very much in healthcare; “patient” implies a cozier, more caring relationship. But “patient” can also be a disempowering word, it implies the doctor tells one what to do and the patient does what they are told. But the patient is paying for the service, and it’s important for healthcare providers not to forget that. Patients are clients too.
So, how would you feel if your lawyer was running late, and kept you waiting for an hour or two before seeing you? You might pay 300 buck per hour for her expertise, and so you’d be unhappy to be treated like this. But when it comes to doctors, people are less quick to complain. That’s partly because the way doctors are funded changes the relationship. If you handed over hard cash every time you saw the doctor, you might feel more empowered. Not that I’d advocate for such a system – providing healthcare without regard for the ability to pay is a principle that Canada should be proud of. (Let’s put the issues of healthcare for refugees aside for another blog, later). So who is in charge of the patient-doctor relationship? Doctors talk about their patients. And patients talk about their doctors. Does a doctor have a patient, or does a patient have a doctor?
Behind the scenes (I work with doctors in a number of organizations) you’ll occasionally hear of community doctors complaining of other doctors poaching or stealing their patients. Is this driven by a desire for continuity of care? I hope so. Continuity of care is important. The alternative is that doctors want to keep patients because they desire the government revenue that they generate. So is it the case that some doctors don’t like competition; or is there a free market? Do we hear of shoe shops complaining of other shoe shops stealing their customers? We don’t, because it’s commonly accepted that shoe-buyers are free to buy their shoes where they wish. They pay for the shoes, and they can chose. The difference with doctors is that free market principles don’t apply. There isn’t enough supply to match the demand and therefore doctors may or may not be able to accept a patient. Doctors tend to offer 9 to 5pm services Monday to Friday, which doesn’t always meet the patient’s needs. Doctors aren’t used to having to compete for patients, suggesting that there is plenty demand for their services. This results in a lack of pressure to attract patients. Even a doctor who keeps a patient waiting or who’s office is difficult to communicate with, can clearly still retain enough patients. Is this good for healthcare – well, I guess that depends how much we value not just the quality of healthcare, but the way in which it is delivered. My guess is that if doctors felt more pressure to compete, patients would end up with an experience they were happier about.
About the author:
Chris Houston is a co-founder & Operations Manager of kid-E-care, and Operations Manager of Kindercare Pediatrics. He also serves on the board of Medecins Sans Frontieres, he also runs a global health module at University of Toronto.
Follow @chris_m_h