Here’s how P.E.I. is confronting its family doctor shortage – CTV

November 16, 2025

With millions of Canadians without a family doctor, some provinces are leaning on nurse practitioners to help shoulder the load. Experts say P.E.I. is among them, quickly increasing nurse practitioners’ role in primary care.

While their scope of practice varies from province to province, it has broadened in recent years, says the Nurse Practitioner Association of Canada.

“In many jurisdictions, they’re being recognized as primary care providers who can independently practice and independently manage a panel of patients,” said Ellen Christie, the association’s president-elect.

Christie adds that nurse practitioners can generally diagnose medical conditions, order lab tests, prescribe medications, perform some procedures and much more. She says as health-care demands increase and the supply of providers struggles to keep pace, the list of services some professionals can offer is getting longer. Another example is expanded prescribing authority for pharmacists.

Those pressures are pushing many provinces away from the solo practice system, where one family doctor sees most patients, toward team-based, collaborative care. Christie says nurse practitioners are a key part of that approach on P.E.I.

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/heres-how-pei-is-confronting-its-family-doctor-shortage/