Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Nova Scotia. Yet, not recognizing a stroke is a common problem that can lead to worse outcomes for patients.
Dartmouth General Hospital nurses Jenna Illsley and Claire Brown didn’t choose hip-hop. It chose them.
"I'm part of the surgical quality team,” said Brown "They asked me to do something to encourage people to do our bedside safety checklists and I thought it might be good to try something a little new."
Nova Scotia Health Authority participated with the Department of Health and Wellness, IWK Health Centre and other partners to test communication and system response to severe weather impacting most of Nova Scotia. The morning-long exercise presented many challenges for the health system. They included mass casualties, widespread power outages and building collapses in different areas of the province. These scenarios allowed staff to test communication and co-ordination of services in our new structure.
Back to Our Roots is the result of a rich partnership between Nova Scotia Health Authority, the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus, Common Roots Halifax and the Nova Scotia government.
It wasn’t a typical setting for this type of conversation, which was purposeful on the part of the Valley Palliative Care Team. “Death and dying are challenging subjects to approach, so it’s important to make people comfortable and to give permission to openly talk about our hopes and fears,” says Fern Brydon, manager of Hospice, Palliative Care and Continuing Care. “We want to help remove the stigma and taboo around death and make these conversations more common.”
Over the past two years, Primary Health Care and the Department of Family Practice have been identifying and implement activities to strengthen health care for the frail elderly with the intent to reduce the incidence of adverse events for patients.
This frailty portal created with two of the PATH clinic’s geriatricians is one example of an initiative that is underway, and that is part of the organization’s broader frailty strategy.
For the past nine years, Addiction and Mental Health services have teamed up with several community partners in the Amherst area to hold the Minds in Motion Walk as part of Mental Health Awareness Week.
Work by Nova Scotia Health Authority clinicians to develop a pair of web-based applications that improve efficiency and patient safety in the use of medications has been recognized as a National LEADing practice by Canada Health Infoway and Accreditation Canada.
