Across Ontario, thousands of patients remain without access to a primary care provider. This webinar will share the results of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project that implemented an innovative solution: positioning Nurse Practitioners (NPs) as Most Responsible Providers (MRPs) within a Family Health Team. By autonomously leading their own patient panels, NPs improved access for unattached patients, strengthened continuity of care, and demonstrated the sustainability of NP-led practice.
This session will also review the steps of implementing a Quality Improvement (QI) project, including identifying a practice gap, engaging stakeholders, selecting evidence-based interventions, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining change. Participants will hear how QI strategies, stakeholder engagement, and outcome measurement informed the project and how the lessons learned can guide future NP leadership in primary care transformation.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the NP-led MRP model within a FHT and its impact on access to primary care for unattached patients.
- Identify strategies to optimize NP autonomy and team collaboration that enhance sustainability and patient outcomes.
- Apply key lessons from the project to advocate for and implement NP-led models in their own settings.
- Outline the essential steps of a QI project to support evidence-based change in primary care.
SPEAKER:
Dr. Elizabeth Smith, DNP, NP-PHC
Elizabeth Smith is a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with over 15 years of experience in a large interdisciplinary Family Health Team in London, Ontario, and more than two decades of progressive nursing leadership.
She began her career as a Registered Nurse in acute, surgical, and transplant settings before advancing into primary care, where she built a strong foundation in clinical practice and system leadership. For more than a decade, Elizabeth has served as Interprofessional Clinical Leader for a team of 24 NPs, providing strategic direction, mentoring colleagues, and fostering evidence-informed practice across multiple sites.
She recently completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, leading a project that repositioned NPs as Most Responsible Providers (MRPs), a model designed to improve access and continuity in the face of Ontario’s growing primary care crisis.
Her work highlights the value of full-scope NP practice in creating sustainable, patient-centered care. Elizabeth is committed to advancing health system capacity through optimizing scope of practice for all providers, developing innovative models, and supporting policy change.
She champions data-driven leadership, leveraging performance indicators to guide quality improvement and demonstrate NP impact. Alongside her clinical and leadership roles, Elizabeth is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Western University’s Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, where she contributes to curriculum development and mentorship of future nursing leaders.
Active in professional associations and advisory committees, she continues to champion NP-led models as essential to primary care renewal in Ontario.