NNAIMS
Printer-friendly versionNNAPF and the National Native Addictions Information Management System
Note to Readers: NNAPF developed NNAIMS and handed it over to Health Canada on time and on budget in 2002. NNAIMS is now part of Health Canada telehealth initiative and has been projected to be fully deployed in 2007.
Background
Developed in a collaborative effort with NNAPF, Health Canada and Dona Cona, the NNAIMS was an initiative to provide automated tools to community-based, frontline addictions counsellors and treatment centre workers.
The primary objective of this new National Native Addictions Information System (formerly, First Nations and Inuit Addictions Information System), was to provide an accurate and up-to-date national on-line registry system to First Nations and Inuit communities. This registry will address the difficulties encountered by the NNADAP community workers in accessing appropriate client services and will increase the availability and accessibility to treatment.
The by-product of this registry is to streamline the occupancy rates of treatment centres which, as noted earlier, vary considerably. Thirdly, referrals for treatment will be easier to make for NNADAP community workers, who currently use an informal network.
When fully developed, the NNAIMS will be the most advanced system of its kind in Canada. The NNAIMS will support addictions treatment centres and community addictions specialists (CAS) by providing access to education as well as awareness tools, on-line booking capacity, communication links to all projects and eventually an on-line training venue. The purpose of the NNAIMS is to increase efficiency and effective use of existing resources by providing timesaving tools, information, training and support.
It has been estimated that 20 to 30 per cent of community addictions specialists' time is consumed locating a treatment centre with bed availability that provides the appropriate services for their clients. When the NNAIMS is place, a CAS will be able to download the application form from the NNAIMS site and send the application as an attachment via e-mail (or fax like they presently do) and search the treatment centre database for the most appropriate services for particular client treatment requirements.
The NNAIMS was developed with input from the people who will use the system-Treatment Centres and Community Addictions Specialists. After extensive research and consultations with potential user groups, the NNAIMS team developed a prototype application with limited functionality to test applicability. This past spring, a user group tested the system and provided feedback. With added functionality, the NNAIMS will go live this fall in selected centres.
The Foundation is particularly proud of this project. Despite the fact we have never received long-term funding for this project, we stretched each dollar and developed the NNAIMS in phases. Although the NNAIMS is a sophisticated, innovative information tool, NNAPF developed it at a low cost.
