The Sun Country Regional Health Authority (SCRHA) adopted a new program to improve the safety of health care delivery for patients/clients/residents at their monthly meeting on December 1. SCRHA is the governing body of Sun Country Health Region (SCHR).
The program is called Medication Reconciliation. It is a structured process in which health care professionals partner with clients, families and caregivers for accurate and complete transfer of medication information at transitions of care.
Medication reconciliation reduces medication discrepancies and the potential for patient harm. When fully implemented, medication reconciliation will also save time for physicians, nurses and pharmacists.
The program will begin with a complete and accurate history of all medications taken during admission to a facility or a new service. It includes information about prescription medications, nonprescription medications, vitamins and supplements, along with the drug name, dose, frequency and method of taking the medication. One standard form will be used by all participants in the Region to record the medications.
The program will be rolled out first to acute care hospitals in the Region, followed by Health Centres and long-term care centres. Home care providers will be included in the meetings in each local area.
The plan will meet the requirements of both Accreditation Canada and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.
In other news, SCRHA agreed that SCHR will not provide names from its patient records to assist fundraising agencies. New provincial regulations allow health regions to provide the names of some former patients/residents/clients to health foundations for fundraising purposes, with no information about medical conditions or treatments. SCHR will continue with its current practice which provides no names.
Home Care nurses continue to provide advanced foot care to clients in the community at regular Wellness Clinics throughout the Region, as part of the Region's Seniors Care Strategy. The podiatry nurse also provides advanced foot care services in the Weyburn Community Health Services Building and at the Estevan clinic.
A nurse from the Redvers Health Centre has attended training in Saskatoon to help the Redvers facility phase in the Eden Philosophy, in preparation for the new long-term care centre in that community. The Eden Philosophy tries to create long-term care centres that tackle loneliness, helplessness and boredom - the three plagues facing seniors. The training is consistent with SCHR's goal of establishing programs of best practice for enhanced services.
Arcola Health Centre experienced a disruption in services on November 18 to 19 for 24 hours because of a lack of physicians to provide on-call services to the emergency department.
Four new physicians arrived in SCHR this fall. They have begun work under the Group Practice Guidelines in preparation for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan exams. SCHR is in discussion with one more physician who is expected to arrive next year.
