Jewish General Hospital - Press releases

2012/09/13

JGH Herzl CRIU Walk-In Centre helping to relieve hospital congestion

Walk-in Centre realizing main goals outlined in 2010 opening

To ease the hospital’s patient load, the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) Herzl CRIU Walk-in Centre has been working to provide care for patients with chronic illnesses. In addition, to reduce return visits to the Emergency Department (ED), patients who have acute medical problems and whose conditions need to be monitored are now instead visiting the Walk-in Centre for follow-up visits.

This is among the JGH projects to achieve the goals of Transformational Change, a hospital-wide program to improve quality of care and provide a better working environment for staff using the management principles of Lean Methodology and Operations Research.

Upon being discharged from the ED, a patient’s medical information is sent electronically to the Walk-in Centre, with details about the required follow-up. A coordinator at the Walk-in Centre then contacts the patient within two days of the Emergency visit to book the follow-up appointment. Furthermore, if the patient does not already have a family doctor and lives in the JGH’s service area, the coordinator pairs the patient with a family doctor or nurse practitioner in the Walk-in Centre or in the Goldman Herzl Family Practice Centre.

“A principle goal of the Herzl CRIU Walk-in Centre is to treat severely ill patients referred from the ED, for primary care follow-up,” explains Dr. Michael Malus, Director of the Goldman Herzl Family Practice Centre and JGH Chief of Family Medicine.

From March 2011 to March 2012, a total of 565 patients were successfully referred to the Walk-in Centre. Following their referrals, they visited the Walk-in Centre 1,673 times and made 227 return visits to the ED. “This low number of return visits to the ED is a testimony to the importance and the strength of this primary care follow-up initiative by the Herzl CRIU,” says Dr. Marc Afilalo, Chief of Emergency Department at the JGH.

"Just two years since its launch, the Walk-in Centre is proving its value by improving the timeliness and quality of the emergency care that patients receive," says Dr. Hartley Stern, JGH Executive Director. "Patients with less-serious problems are referred to the Walk-in Centre where they get treated more promptly. This, in turn, reduces waiting times for patients whose care must be provided by the Emergency Department. Thus, the hospital's resources are used more efficiently, its funds are spent more effectively, and patients receive proper care in the facilities most suited to their medical needs."

In addition, as of July 2012, a new collaborative initiative was launched to follow the success of the first project. Now, the least acute Emergency patients are being referred to the Walk-in Centre after being seen by the triage nurse. When these patients arrive at the Walk-in Centre, they maintain their priority in line from the time of their Triage, allowing the ED to deal with more serious cases, while saving time for patients who might otherwise have waited longer for Emergency service.

Over the summer months, the JGH’s Transformational Change program has developed an extensive initiative to improve patient flow throughout the hospital. The numerous projects under the patient flow umbrella range in scope and complexity, and together, will amount to a fundamental transformation of the institution. The two collaborative projects being pursued by Emergency and the Herzl CRIU Walk-In Centre complement the larger patient flow initiative, in that they all aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of hospital service, the flow of patients and the quality of their experience.

For more information about the JGH Transformational Change program and its patient flow initiative, visit jgh.ca/TransformationalChange.

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Contact:

Glenn J. Nashen, Director
Astrid Morin, Media Relations
Public Affairs and Communications
Jewish General Hospital
Tel.: 514-340-8222 ext. 4612
Email: amorin@jgh.mcgill.ca
Website: jgh.ca