To answer your first part, I would say knowledge translation occurs in at least two ways. One is that at every meeting, as I said, we do a round table. It's structured according to a template. One of the areas in the template is new roles and scopes of practices, and each jurisdiction provides an update. The other thing is that when we see a specific area or an emerging trend, we might do a bit more of what you might call a deep dive, or have a specific paper on that area. That would be for new roles or healthy work environments, or for data and modelling. In data and modelling we might hold a specific conference just to bring people together. Two or three times a year we do a crosscut, and when there's an emerging trend, we do a deep dive.
All new roles and all evolutions in health care, whether it's a PA, an NP, or a physiotherapist who can order x-rays, run into challenges from the established group, and it's not always from the doctors. Every group that starts to work in new and different ways faces a challenge. The NPs and PAs are increasingly being looked at or implemented in different jurisdictions across Canada. With PAs, Manitoba was the first. Ontario, B.C., and I think Nova Scotia are now following behind. With NPs, Ontario is leading, but now B.C. and a few others are following. We've got well over 1,000 NPs now in Ontario, and probably closer to 1,400, so we've changed our scopes.
Then you can look at the other end. We don't talk a lot about it, but there is traditional Chinese medicine. Ontario and B.C. have both regulated and have really started to put that profession forward. In an increasingly multicultural country, it's very important. Quebec and Alberta have regulated acupuncturists, though not the full traditional TCM model.
Again, it depends on how you look at this. I'd be happy if you had some specific questions around PAs or NPs or one other area, and I'd do a bit of a deep dive for you.