Sunnybrook Management Commentary and Analysis 2014/15

Partnering with patients and families: Person-centred care approach
Start with N.O.D.S.
Introduce yourself with:
N – say your Name
O – state your Occupation
D – describe what you will Do
S – Supportively, Sincerely,
and with a Smile
Seek the Voice of the Patient
ASK first:
Today/right now, what’s most
important to you?
• goal, concern, worry,
preference, care need
• What would you like to see
happen? What would help?
Embed the Voice of the Patient
SHARE & ACT:
What’s important to the patient
and work with the interprofessional
team and health care partners
across the continuum of care
Document the patient story
Take action and see it through
1 2 3
Ensuring that patients and families are
prepared for discharge from the hospital
can be a complex task, but an important
one to ensure optimal patient flow and
keep occupancy levels manageable. At
Sunnybrook, discharge planning begins
at admission with an “expected date of
discharge” included on patient charts.
Health care teams partner with patients
and families to ensure their questions
are answered and they are ready to
return home. The acronym N.O.D.S. was
launched at the Hospital as a reminder
to staff to “N – say your name. O – state
your occupation. D – describe what you
will do. S – supportively, sincerely and
with a smile.” Working together as a
team to improve the information shared
with patients, and address any concerns
about returning home, has been shown
to greatly improve the overall patient
experience.
Rapid referral and assessment
Across Sunnybrook, rapid referral and
assessment clinics assist in preventing
unnecessary hospital admission and
reducing wait times. The Heart Failure
and Rapid Cardiology Assessment Clinic
celebrated its first anniversary, seeing
over 800 referrals in the first year, with
546 seen within 24 to 48 hours. The
clinic sees patients with congestive
heart failure, chest pain, and arrhythmia
that do not require urgent admission.
In the same vein, Sunnybrook’s Rapid
Referral Clinic allows physicians in the
Emergency Department to refer patients
to a general internist for urgent outpatient
assessment, with the goal of improving
patient flow.
7