Patient Care – Implement a Canada-Wide Standard for Spine Trauma and Back Pain Triage
An important opportunity exists to reduce patient wait times and associated costs to the Health Care system: Canadian emergency departments treat 1.3 million spine trauma and back pain patients every year.4 Improving primary care triage will reduce the overuse of MRI and CAT scans and will reduce the number of patients who are referred needlessly to a spine surgeon. Not only will this direct more patients to more relevant care but it will shorten the waiting time for those patients who really need surgery.

Research – Support the Development of Canada’s First Spine Surgery Patient Registry
The benefits of a Canadian spine surgery registry are many. A national record of the indications, techniques, complications and outcomes of spine surgery will provide surgeons with data and analysis to improve spine surgery across Canada. But more than that, the Canadian Spine Registry will benefit medical practitioners around the world and demonstrate surgical leadership on a global scale.

Education – Implement a Back Health Awareness Campaign
The lack of relevant back education among Canadian workers is a significant contributor to the excessive burden that back-related problems place on family physicians and emergency rooms. Many Canadians who suffer from back pain are not aware of the range of simple prevention techniques and effective self-administered treatment alternatives. Coordinating the efforts of physiotherapists and chiropractors and creating a roadmap that directs back pain patients to the proper diagnosis and treatment choices will help alleviate the enormous pressure on our health care system.