The Reproductive Care Program (RCP) was established by the Nova Scotia Department of Health & Wellness in 1973. RCP is a Provincial Program responsive to the needs of the maternal and newborn health system. Provincial programs establish and monitor standards of care, conduct surveillance, act in an advisory capacity to the health system, and play a major role in quality activities in the province. Provincial programs are focused on contributing to the health of their target population through quality and patient safety initiatives as well as system and process improvement, while working in partnership with other provincial programs, IWK, NSHA, and the Department of Health & Wellness as well as other non-governmental agencies and stakeholders.
Based in Halifax (IWK off-site) and working across Nova Scotia, the RCP supports health care providers across the continuum of care through knowledge translation activities, continuing professional education, clinical and system-level consultation, development of tools to support implementation of clinical guidelines, leading/co-leading initiatives to improve maternal and infant health, and facilitating relevant research. Maintaining strong and respectful working relationships with hospital-based and community-based health care providers, public health, and health care leaders within IWK, Nova Scotia Health and Mi’kmaw Health & Wellness is critical to the Program’s success. Although RCP’s focus is primarily provincial, the Program provides specific supports to health care providers in the other Atlantic Provinces and participates and/or plays a leadership role in regional and national initiatives that foster maternal and infant health across the country.