The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Nova Scotia Health gave no reason for the temporary closure. This will be the 13th time this month that the emergency department has been closed for all or part of the day.
A Nova Scotia Health official told QCCR last week that the ER has a “significant” staff vacancy rate and needs to hire 10 more nurses. She did not know how many more doctors are needed.
The emergency department at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater is open. Or Nova Scotia Health suggests calling 911 if you have a medical emergency. For general health advice and information, call 811.
Patients of Queens Family Health can also call the same-day clinic at Queens General at 902-354-3322.
If you’re on the Need a Family Practice Registry, you can access VirtualCareNS.
Nova Scotia released results of the Healthcare Improvement Challenge on Monday. (Communications Nova Scotia photo)
By Rick Conrad
Better communication with patients was among the 10 most popular ideas from Nova Scotia health care workers in response to a government survey of low-cost ways to improve the health system.
The Healthcare Improvement Challenge contest launched in October. The government was looking for ideas that were easy to implement with little to no funding. Eligible submissions were entered into a random draw for prizes of $1,000.
The contest received more than 2,200 submissions from Nova Scotia health care workers.
Their ideas were narrowed down to a shortlist of 20. The public then voted for their Top 3 from that list, from Dec. 20 to Jan. 8.
“The people who know our healthcare system best told us what common-sense, low-cost and easy-to-implement improvements we could make, and Nova Scotians chose those they felt would have the biggest impact,” Premier Tim Houston said Monday in a news release.
Houston said the 10 ideas are now priorities and the government will work with health-care providers to make them happen, where possible. He didn’t provide a timetable of when these suggestions would become reality.
Here are the Top 10 vote getters.
Set up a text notification system to remind patients of their appointments.
Give patients the option to get appointment letters by email instead of regular mail.
Allow audiologists to send direct referrals to ear, nose and throat specialists instead of making patients go to their primary care provider for the referral.
Reduce pressure on nurses by allowing continuing care assistants to work to their full scope of practice by doing things like taking vitals.
Install monitors in all emergency departments that show wait times and other related information about what a patient should expect in an ER.
Enable hospital caller ID so patients can see when the hospital calls.
Stop using ER for pre-operative bloodwork for patients scheduled for a Monday morning procedure. Instead, offer them priority appointments before the weekend.
Make intake for surgery or specialist appointments faster by allowing patients to pre-register online for their surgery or specialist appointment.
Develop a registration app, where patients can enter their information, generating a QR code. They can then show this code to clerks to scan this on the patient’s arrival, saving time and data coding errors.
If patients book an appointment for diagnostic imaging like an MRI or ultrasound online, give them the optoin to cancel online.
Queens County residents who haven’t received their latest COVID booster or influenza vaccine will get another shot at it on Tuesday.
Nova Scotia Health is organizing a COVID-19 and influenza immunization clinic at Queens Place Emera Centre on Jan. 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The public health mobile unit will be offering the following vaccines: COVID-19 Moderna XBB.1.5, the influenza vaccine for people from 6 months to 64 years old and the high-dose influenza shot for those 65 and over.
Officials are encouraging people to book their appointments ahead of time, though some limited drop-ins may be available.
COVID-19 rapid test kits will also be available.
According to Nova Scotia’s online vaccine booking page, the next available appointments in the Liverpool area after Tuesday are on Jan. 16.
Public Health officials have urged Nova Scotians to make sure they are up to date on their vaccinations, as COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses are still hospitalizing people across the country.
Exterior of Queens General Hospital. Photo Ed Halverson
Queens General Hospital will be welcoming four new family medicine residents over the next two years.
One resident starting in August another in December and two more joining next year will each spend 5 months training alongside family medicine doctors in Queens.
The influx of student doctors is part of the Dalhousie Family Medicine Residency Satellite program being operated in partnership with Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health, and the Queens General Hospital Foundation.
Doctor Tarah Millen practices on the South Shore and helps mentor residents.
She says a residency in a rural area helps patients get access to medical care and provides residents with learning opportunities they may not get in a larger centre.
“Lots more hands-on because there’s many learners in the city and here there’s less amounts of learners and they can get lots of hand-on experience with wonderful physicians and preceptors.”
Millen says that hands on experience will extend to many corners of the hospital.
“They’ll be working with the family doctors who work at Queens General Hospital. They’ll be spending time with them doing a variety of things including clinic, emergency room, hospitalist, and long-term care facility.”
Dr Amy McMullin works at Queens General and says the partnerships between Nova Scotia Health and the Queens General Hospital Foundation have made it possible to accommodate these additional residents.
“The foundation has been a huge support for the past year or two. They’ve been developing call room space for residents as well they have helped renovate our procedure clinic on the second floor and they’ve been really supportive, hand in hand with Nova Scotia health,” said McMullin. “And they’ve also helped us find housing for the residents while they’re here. So, they’ve been immense support we couldn’t have done it without them.”
The goal of the satellite residency program is to provide a look at what life looks like in rural areas in the hopes some of today’s residents will choose to call Queens home when they begin their practice.
The Nova Scotia government is takjng steps to address the shortage of housing for new healthcare workers.
The province will spend $8 million to provide affordable and temporary housing for workers who need it the most in communities that have very limited housing options.
Government will partner with the Housing Trust of Nova Scotia, who will work with health partners, municipalities, and other key stakeholders to set up temporary mobile modular homes in areas where there is an acute demand.
In an e-mail, a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs says, “This is meant to be a short-term solution for people as communities build more housing stock over the next several years.”
Opposition party leaders questioned where new recruits would live after government recently announced 65 Continuing Care Assistants from Kenya had received offers to come to Nova Scotia.
The housing initiative will require cooperation from several departments and agencies.
The Housing Trust will work with Nova Scotia Health and the Department of Health and Wellness to establish qualification criteria for who can access the modulars.
Then they will coordinate with Municipal Affairs and Housing and municipalities to identify available land and placement options within communities.
When asked how it will be determined which communities will receive these new housing units the Municipal Affairs Spokesperson went on to say, “This initiative is based on need, so the principal criteria will be a demonstrated demand for units, within a given community.”
The spokesperson indicated a supplier will be selected based on how quickly the housing can be delivered and until the supplier is selected the department can’t say how many units will be purchased.
She stressed both government and the housing trust are aware of the urgency, and will work quickly to move the process along so modulars can make it to the areas where they are most needed as quickly as possible.
Nova Scotia Health is reminding people that COVID-19, influenza, and RSV are still active and must be considered when visiting loved ones this holiday season.
In a release, they say masks must be worn at all times in all provincial health facilities and the number of visitors patients can have will depend on where they are being treated and what they are being treated for.
Only people identified by a patient as an essential care partner (support person, caregiver) can visit a patient in hospital.
Only one Essential Care Partner/ Support Person at a time for:
children and youth under 19 in outpatient settings
hospital inpatients
patients in emergency departments
prenatal visits, including ultrasounds
ambulatory care clinics, appointments, or procedures
patients with COVID-19 infection (additional measures may be required)
Two Essential Care Partners/ Support Persons at a time for:
children and youth under 19 admitted to hospital, or having day surgery
patients in intensive care units and critically ill patients in emergency departments
patients in labour and giving birth
Three Essential Care Partners/Support Persons at a time for:
palliative care and other patients nearing end of life
patients receiving medical assistance in dying (MAiD)
In a release, Nova Scotia Health says people with compromised immune systems are relying on the facilities to ensure a safe and healthy place in which to receive treatment, rest and recover.
And that health care workers take precautions every day to prevent getting sick or passing illness onto patients.
Nova Scotia Health asks when visiting loved ones under provincial care this holiday season to bear in mind that general masking requirements create a healthier environment, reducing the strain on care teams, and the health care system as a whole.
It’s seems rapid COVID tests are becoming more difficult to find across the province.
Nova Scotia Health say they are aware of increased demand for testing kits and are working to distribute more to their community partners.
The department has increased the number of kits they delivered in July by 34,000 above the almost 234,000 distributed in June.
Rapid tests can be found at most public libraries and family resource centres, MLA offices, Public Health Mobile Units, and for those using the services of Feed Nova Scotia and Access Nova Scotia.
Some regional libraries have been delayed in receiving their test kits, but Nova Scotia Health says they are available at all main branches.
In Queens, the Thomas Raddall library still has stock as does MLA Kim Masland’s office.
Public Health no longer recommends testing for COVID if no symptoms are present but says it’s still a good idea to have a couple of tests on hand in case symptoms develop.
Public health officials are asking Nova Scotians to change their COVID-19 testing habits.
At Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing, Premier Tim Houston acknowledged Nova Scotian’s commitment to testing is the envy of public health officials across the country.
“To be totally honest, I’ve been a regular for months at either stopping at a clinic for a PCR or a rapid test at home. It’s always been something I’ve been doing during the pandemic, and it’s always provided a great deal of comfort. So, I get it,” said Houston. “I get that the change is difficult, but we have to start moving away from the way we’ve been testing.”
Houston says approximately 830,000 tests are distributed across Nova Scotia each week.
The province has ordered 2 million tests above the amount they receive from the federal government, but like the rest of the provinces they’re waiting on supply to arrive.
The province’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang says before anyone can get a PCR or rapid test, they need to do the self-assessment online.
“This is the reality of dealing with limited supply and while you may not be happy about this, we all need you to understand and accept that others may need to be a higher priority than ourselves,” said Strang. “ Please do not get angry at frontline staff or try and find a workaround. Put others ahead of yourself and be kind to those who have been caring for you for over the past two years. They deserve nothing less than this.”
Public health announced 12 new hospital admissions and seven discharges Wednesday.
They also reported a woman in her 60s from the Western Zone has died.
Strang says Nova Scotians should be confident that vaccines are working.
While people are still dying from the virus, Strang says vaccines are preventing serious illness in most.
In a release, Nova Scotia Health said there are currently 600 staff and physicians off work due to COVID-19 infections, or self-isolate requirements.
As a result, only urgent and emergent surgeries, including time sensitive cancer surgeries, will be performed at this time
Strang says the omicron virus has seriously impacted the ability of hospitals to maintain staffing levels.
“There’s no doubt we are in a very serious situation. The most serious we’ve been in during this entire pandemic, given all the pressures on our health care system,” said Strang. “This is different than other waves. We’ve never before had hundreds of healthcare workers not able to work or so many cases that public health is no longer able to identify and closely manage each case and all their contacts.”
Strang urges everyone to reduce their contacts and follow the masking and social distancing requirements to keep themselves and the people around them safe.
