What role can patients play in helping improve access to surgical and endoscopy care?

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Patients can play an important role in helping reduce wait times for care throughout their healthcare journey.

When you are referred to see a specialist

Provide your email address with your surgical eReferral

If your healthcare provider is referring you to a specialist in our new eReferral tool, you can provide your email address and receive automatic updates. When it comes time for an appointment, you may even have the option to confirm your appointment via email. You could also receive a survey by email about your eReferral experience. Please complete the survey if asked so we can keep making improvements for patients.

Consider being referred outside your home community

Patients being referred for surgical consults and other services are often referred in our electronic referral tool. You can ask your healthcare provider to note your preferences. This might include a certain facility or provider, or noting that you would be willing to travel to some other areas, or anywhere in the province, if it meant receiving care sooner. Please think about these options. It is important to remember that you will need to travel to see the specialists, for your procedure and for other care that may be needed before and after your procedure.

Waiting for a consult appointment with a specialist or for a date for your procedure?

Let your healthcare team know if something changes, such as:

• My condition has changed or gotten worse
  • Please let your surgeon or specialist’s office know.
• I am waiting to see a specialist for a consult and have a new phone number, email or mailing address
  • Contact the specialist’s office to let them know. Not sure who you were referred to? Contact the healthcare provider who referred you.
• I am waiting to get a date for my surgery / endoscopy and have a new primary healthcare provider
  • It is also important to let your healthcare team know that your primary healthcare provider has changed. Information on who to contact can be found here.
• I am waiting for a surgery or endoscopy date and have a new phone number, email or mailing address
  • It is important that your specialist or central booking staff be able to reach you when an appointment becomes available. Please let us know if this information needs to be updated. If you are expecting to have your procedure at a hospital in Halifax, Dartmouth or Windsor, please contact your specialist. For all other hospitals please contact our central booking teams – contact information for these offices can be found here.

Getting ready for your procedure

Complete a health history questionnaire

Your healthcare provider may ask you to complete our health history questionnaire. This helps our staff determine who must visit a preoperative or pre-anesthesia clinic, or have certain tests before their procedure.

Download the preoperative health history questionnaire

Given special instructions ahead of your procedure?

Some patients will need to visit other clinics, have other tests, or stop taking certain medications before their procedure. Patients will also be informed to stop eating or drinking in the time leading up to their surgery (fasting).  

Please be sure to follow these instructions to avoid having your procedure delayed or rescheduled to another day.

Contacted with a procedure date?        

We recognize that many patients need to make special arrangements before their procedures, such as booking time off work or arranging for a drive home, childcare or more. Please give thought to what you might need to do to get ready for your procedure date.

If you are contacted with a date for your procedure it is important that you accept it wherever possible to avoid further delays.

Consider using patient education and engagement tools if they are available

Some teams use patient education and engagement tools or applications that can help patients take a more active role in their care. These applications may help us improve your surgical experience and care by providing you with forms, education, reminders, instructions for your recovery and more. They may even provide ways for you to stay connected with your healthcare team from home.
 
We know that not all patients are comfortable using technology and other patients may not have a smart phone, tablet, or computer. Our team members can provide you with information and support to help you decide if these tools are right for you.
 

After your procedure

Follow recovery instructions.

After your procedure you will receive information on any special instructions you should follow to help with your recovery. This might include taking part in or avoiding certain types of activities, avoiding showering to keep your incision dry, watching for signs of infection and more. These instructions are important to help you get the most from your procedure, speed up your recovery and avoid complications. If your recovery does not go as planned, you may need to be readmitted to hospital, have additional procedures or other unwanted outcomes, so it is important to follow the instructions given or to ask questions if you don’t understand.

Contacted by a surgical nurse reviewer?            

Nova Scotia Health is part of a program called the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) that helps us track how we are doing and find ways to reduce complications and improve the care our patients receive. Some patients will be contacted by one of our NSQIP surgical nurse reviewers to be asked about their recovery and any complications or challenges they may have experienced after their surgery. If contacted, please take a few minutes to speak with the nurse about your care.