Source: Radio New Zealand
Dunedin Hospital’s nurse-led surgical unit and Chief Nurse Southern, Jane Wilson. Supplied/ Dunedin Hospital
Dunedin Hospital has opened a new nurse-led surgical assessment unit which it says has already improved emergency department (ED) wait times by nearly 10 percent.
The unit was for patients who were likely to need surgery and the specialist nurses would be able to begin tests ahead of a specialist being able to see them.
Southern chief nurse Jane Wilson told Nine to Noon, it would be for patients who came to ED or who were referred by their GP with issues like appendicitis, pelvic pain or gallstones.
She said patients who weren’t critically unwell could be transferred there after initially presenting at ED and being assessed and triaged by a nurse.
“The nurse can very promptly have a conversation with the ED doctor or nurse practitioner who will liaise with the surgical medical team to see if this patients is able to be cared for in our surgical assessment unit.”
The Dunedin Hospital pictured in 2021. (File photo)
She said the unit had clinical nurse specialists and registered nurses with more experience and advanced skills.
This meant they could initiate tests including ultrasounds, take blood, put in IV lines and IV antibiotics to get a patient ready as quickly as possible.
She said they all would still have seen a doctor or nurse practitioner at the triage point in ED.
The unit had 11 spaces – six beds and five chairs and was located on the hospital’s surgical floor.
“Some patients need to stay overnight. Some only need to stay a few hours, can see treatment and go home again. Not everybody who comes needs surgery it may just be that assessment and a plan to come back at a later date,” Wilson said.
There were similar units across the country and internationally, Wilson said, but this was more of a nurse-led model.
She said the hospital was able to fund it through $20m investment from the government. Wilson said Southern had a $2.4m investment to making stays in ED shorter.
Through this, Wilson said the hospital was also able to get a pharmacist and social worker in ED.
The new unit first began as a proof of concept in December, Wilson said, with just three patient spaces. It fully opened last month with the 11 spaces.
Since then it had seen nearly 900 patients.
There had been an improvement in waiting times in ED by nearly 10 percent, Wilson said, and she had been hearing positive feedback from ED staff and patients.
“The faster we can see patients safely, the better. We don’t want our patients waiting unnecessarily. That is safer care absolutely.”
The national target for shorter wait times in ED, was for 95 percent of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred in six hours by 2030, Wilson said.
The target at the moment, was 77 percent and she said the hospital was meeting that.
She believed in the long run the new unit would help save money by enabling health resources to be spread further.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand