Discharge support team enhances patient care

At Colchester East Hants Health Centre, teams are dedicated to delivering exceptional patient care. The discharge support team takes this mission further, ensuring patients transition smoothly and confidently when leaving the hospital. 

Seeing an opportunity to better meet the needs of patients about to return to the community, the team recently changed an area of the health centre to offer temporary support for these patients. The new discharge support unit cares for up to 10 patients at a time, helping those who are ready to go back to their community but need a little extra time for things like final medical tests, teaching or transportation arrangements. It also serves as an extra space to care for patients from the emergency department during busy times. 

In March, emergency department physician, Dr. Janet Sommers, noted she had seen a significant change since the unit opened. "Previously, I would assess up to 10 patients a day in the emergency department overflow areas,” she said. “In the last two weeks, I’ve only had to address one per shift. The new unit makes a huge difference in managing patient flow.” 

Nova Scotia Health’s Care Coordination Centre (C3) team is a group of healthcare professionals working to streamline the patient journey by leveraging technology for appointment planning, procedure wait list management, and providing an overall view from start to finish - and more. 

When C3 learned the discharge support team wanted help with their program, they stepped up. They guided the team on how they could use the C3 technology to support care, provide hands-on training and tailor the technology to their patients’ needs.

“Using this advanced technology, we helped them create a system that supports patient safety and care by ensuring clear communication and improved access to care,” said Zachary Martin, clinical training lead for C3. “Teams are now able to move the most appropriate patients to the unit when they are ready,” noted Zachary. “It keeps everyone on the same page by allowing them to quickly and easily view the care patients are awaiting and when it is complete.”  

Working together with C3 allowed the discharge unit team to adopt the technology, improving patient flow both in the new unit and across other departments. It increased capacity in the medical day unit, improved flow in the emergency department and reduced ambulance offload times. Patient information in C3 allows data-sharing in real-time among healthcare professionals, speeding up patient care. This seamless access to information has a significant impact on both patient care and healthcare workflow. 

“Creating the discharge support unit promoted the movement of more acute patients to inpatient units with the most resources, which aligns with the SAFER-f initiative,” said Danielle Isenor, Clinical Practice Lead for the discharge support unit.

“It has also created efficiency in the frontline nurses’ workload, with patients coming to their units   earlier in the day and fewer patients admitted during shift changes.” 

Want to learn more about C3? Visit our website: Care Coordination Centre (C3) | Nova Scotia Health.

Photo of (L-R): Natalie Lees, Discharge Support Nurse, CEHHC; Courtney Jayasinghe, Health Services Manager/Operations Lead, CEHHC and Dr. Caroline Surette.