Abbott Supports McGill University Nurse Practitioner Programs

MONTREAL, March 10 /CNW Telbec/ - Today Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) announced it will sponsor McGill University's Nurse Practitioner programs launched by the McGill School of Nursing of the Faculty of Medicine. Over the last five years, the Nurse Practitioner programs have provided advanced training for registered nurses that enables them to assume additional responsibilities to provide enhanced patient care.

Abbott's donation will be directed toward recruiting nurse practitioners and physicians to supervise students, updating course materials, improving learning and lab environments, and making valuable training opportunities available. Jeff Devlin, General Manager, Abbott International, Canada says: "Nurses and nurse practitioners comprise an essential component of our health care system. They play an extremely important role in the lives of Canadian patients. We must support their development to improve health care delivery."

A nurse practitioner is trained to perform tasks in collaboration with physicians that are related to physical assessment, diagnosis and the prescription of medicine in certain conditions. According to the most recent data available from the Canadian Institute of Health Information, from 2003 to 2006 the number of nurse practitioners increased by 27%, with close to half working in the community health care sector.

"The McGill Nurse Practitioner programs offer specialization in primary care and neonatology, both critical avenues of study and practice in our health care environment," says Dr. Hélène Ezer, Director of McGill's School of Nursing. "Abbott's support of these programs brings important momentum to training this new generation of health care professional to meet the current and future needs of society."

Abbott is advancing its mindset and ability to understand, anticipate and proactively address our customer's evolving needs. Devlin adds: "We strongly believe that nurse practitioners play a vital role within our health care network, especially in the rural areas of Canada where there is often a lack of sufficient medical resources. In order to serve our patients, we need to find practical ways to be a part of the solution."

About Abbott

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 83,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. Serving the Canadian population since 1931, Abbott in Canada employs 2,000 individuals. To learn more, visit www.abbott.ca.

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For further information: Media: Eileen Murphy, Abbott Canada, [phone], [email protected]; Laura La Marca-Friday, Cohn & Wolfe, [phone] ext. 4031, [email protected]