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Chats on Change

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Welcome to Chats on Change where Nova Scotia Health Interim CEO Karen Oldfield speaks to health leaders about the work they are doing to improve the system for Nova Scotians.

Episodes:​


Today Karen welcomes Jeff Fraser, Executive Director of Emergency Health Services and Natalie Borden, Senior Executive Director of Emergency Health Services to discuss how Nova Scotia Health and EHS work as partners to provide ready, responsive, and reliable care. 

Transcript

Eunice Ojeabulu arrived in Nova Scotia poised to greet a health care recruiter and start a nursing career, both the recruiter and opportunity were too good to be true. Despite the shocking circumstances, Eunice continued on her journey to work as a Registered Nurse in Nova Scotia and also became an advocate for other internationally educated nurses. Soon, Eunice and I met at a Community Conversation stop in Cherry Brook and our chat set a path in motion to change things.

Contact:  
Eunice Ojeabulu: steunice2001@yahoo.com 
Tara Sampalli: Tara.Sampalli@nshealth.ca

After years of waiting, the Province awarded the contract for One Patient, One Record (OPOR) on February 1. I hope you can hear my cheering from here! On this episode of the podcast I chat with Dr. Christy Bussey, executive medical director for Central Zone about OPOR and what it implementation means for patients and staff and physicians.

Transcription available here.

Guest host Nicole Brooks talks to NSH Interim CEO Karen Oldfield about her experiences from the Community Healthcare Conversations where she joined Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, & Deputy Minister Jeannine Lagassé for community conversations across the province about the work underway to improve healthcare. 

Transcription available here.


Dr. Christine Short is a physician leader and academic clinician who is also the Senior Medical Director of Redevelopment for the Central Zone.

"This last year and a bit has been just non-stop, tremendous work by that redevelopment team and that’s why now we’re ready to run and we have the confidence that now that we know the new direction, we’ll be able to get things up and going. People will see changes and positive things happening very quickly."

Related links: 
https://buildns.ca/healthcare/more-faster-the-action-for-health-build/ 
Christine.short@nshealth.ca

Transcript available upon request.


In this episode, Karen is joined by Dr. Maria Alexiadis and Lindsay Cormier from the Primary Health Care and Chronic Disease Management Network to discuss the Access Sprint pilot project. The goal is to improve processes in primary care clinics staff have a better work-life balance, while also increasing access for patients who need healthcare. As Dr. Alexiadis puts it, this is a “win-win for both providers and patients.” 
  
The word “Sprint” reflects how quickly the project is moving to meet its goal; beginning with five Primary Care clinics around the province. What’s learned in the first five clinics will then be applied to other Primary Care clinics, then to all clinics.

Transcript

On this episode, Tara Sampalli from our Research and Innovation team and Grayson Fulmer with Physician Services, join me to explain how we are partnering with Dalhousie Family Medicine to pilot an approach to patient “onboarding” that will see those Dalhousie practices add 3,500 patients from the Need a Family Practice registry over four months.

Transcript


Today Karen welcomes Dr. Jocelyn Foran to discuss the culture at Nova Scotia Health and what we can do to make it a better place to work. 

Transcript


Nova Scotia Minister of Health and Wellness, Michelle Thompson, discusses how healthcare has changed since becoming a registered nurse and what her many conversations with Nova Scotia Health staff and physicians have taught her about what’s needed now to care for Nova Scotians. Minister Thompson and NSH CEO Karen Oldfield have an honest discussion about the challenges and successes found in delivering healthcare in Nova Scotia.

Transcript


Today Karen welcomes Dr. Jan Sommers and RN Jenna Gallop to discuss VirtualEmergencyNS, a pilot project (originally spearheaded by nurse Jessica Langille) that launched in February where patients who consent to a virtual appointment have a consultation with an emergency-trained physician, supported by an on-site nurse or advanced care paramedic. The program is intended to reduce wait times for Nova Scotians visiting the emergency department with health concerns that can be appropriately treated through a virtual visit.

Transcript


Karen welcomes Gordon Peckham and Dr. Kirk Magee to discuss the challenges and opportunities with the new Command Centre at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Transcript


Today Karen welcomes Dr. Kevin Orrell, Deputy Minister and CEO of the new Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment in the Nova Scotia Government to discuss the challenges and opportunities for health care recruitment and retention in Nova Scotia.

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