Edmonton Clinic to enhance teaching capacity
Written By: ExpressNews Staff
2006-04-19
The University of Alberta and Capital Health are putting the city of Edmonton into the history books of health care. The new name of the Health Sciences Ambulatory Learning Centre will be The Edmonton Clinic."This is such a proud day for us," Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel said at the Tuesday announcement. "We are very proud that our name will be on the top of this outstanding clinic."
The Edmonton Clinic is a $577-million health sciences facility that will house diagnostic services and day clinics from the University of Alberta and Stollery Children's hospitals, freeing up much-needed space for additional hospital beds and providing one-stop access for patients. It will also open the door for the university to transform the province's health services workforce in order to meet future needs with a focus on patients, flexibility, team-oriented, research-based and culturally sensitive approaches. The clinic will use cutting-edge technologies to support the education of health sciences students in rural and remote communities.
The presidents of the University of Alberta and Capital Health believe the integrated approach will become a model for academic health centres across North America.
University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera said she expects the interprofessional approach to learning will boost the U of A's enrolment in health sciences education by 70 per cent by the year 2020. "When teachers and clinicians pool their resources across a number of boundaries, those boundaries themselves will disappear," she said. "The team-based approach to teaching will give our students access to the latest healthcare developments and will greatly strengthen our ability to meet the province's need for highly educated health care professionals."
The Edmonton Clinic will play a significant role in Alberta's health-reform strategy and position the capital region as one of North America's leading health-services delivery and academic hubs. It will decrease waiting times and improve patient access to ambulatory (out-patient) clinics. As well, it will benefit rural Albertans who will have increased access to ambulatory clinics, thus reducing the amount of time needed to spend away from their homes.
The clinic will open in 2011, and will be about 170,000 square metres. In addition to accommodating day clinics and increasing the number of available hospital beds, the Edmonton Clinic will create an interdisciplinary education environment for the 6,000 students in the full spectrum of U of A health sciences programs.
The Edmonton Clinic will bring together U of A medical students, nurses, pharmacists, rehabilitation medicine professionals, dental professionals, laboratory technologists, nutritionists and health promotion personnel so they are better prepared to function as team members.
"Our collaborative approach has already established Capital Health and the University of Alberta as national leaders in health care and education," said Capital Health President and CEO Sheila Weatherill. "This centre will ensure that we continue to develop innovative and cost-effective opportunities that enhance quality patient care and services and contribute to research and education."
More than 2,000 health sciences professionals will operate out of the facility, which will serve an expected one million patient visits annually. Clinics to be relocated to the new facility include family medicine, diabetes, orthopedics, neurosciences, rehabilitation and dentistry.
The clinic, which will be built on the west side of 114 Street by the new Health Sciences LRT station, will be connected to the University of Alberta Hospital and the Health Research Innovation Facility by an over-the-street pedway.
Original: ExpressNews