The Nova Scotia Health Quality Awards are a celebration of the incredible work taking place across the organization in support of quality improvement, patient safety, patient experience and teamwork. We are proud to announce that the Inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Service recently won the 'Excellence in Mental Health and Quality Improvement' award.
The award honors a hospital, health authority, community program/service that demonstrates evidence-informed and sustained quality improvements in mental health and addictions. This initiative is currently a pilot project at QEII Health Sciences Centre.
This project aimed to provide hospital teams access to an interdisciplinary consult team of addiction medicine specialists to build capacity to identify patient need for evidence-informed care for people with substance use disorders, and related illnesses, and help teams support patient needs. Project team engaged people with lived and living experience, health care providers and administrators to inform service. The new Inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Service (IAMCS) launched at Halifax Infirmary in September 2023. IAMCS raised awareness of the service, completed comprehensive patient assessments, provided education, and supported physicians and other healthcare providers to better manage patient needs, including medication, psychosocial, and discharge support. From September 2023 - September 2024, IAMCS supported 300 new consult requests and had over 1464 patient encounters. Additionally, IAMCS provided education on best practice care for people living with substance use disorders to over 150 health care providers. IAMCS develops effective working together relationships to collaborate and action stigma-free best practice care for people living with addictive disorders. IAMCS collects data to continuously improve and demonstrate impacts of the service. IAMCS aims to spread access to addiction medicine expertise across Nova Scotia hospitals.
Kudos to the project team: Dana Pulsifer, Dr. Andrew Harris, Mathew White, Dr. Dave Martell, Janah Fair, Robert Graham, Grayson Fulmer, Chris MacKinnon, Patryk Simon, Heather Lohnes, Lynn Lowe, Lynn MacNeil, Jeffrey Smith, Bryanne Taylor, Heidi MacDonald, Tommy Brothers, Lea Genge, Tiffany O’Donnell, Pam Arenella, Mike Gniewek, Sam Hickcox, Leah Jones, Mariah Hughes, Katherine Lines, Caitlin Sampson, Erin McDonald, Haley Heist, Kayla Watson, Kim Steeves, Kylia Irving, Jeris Abbas, Maureen Wheller, Debbie Purvis, Janelle Aucoin, Janelle Comeau, Laura Wentzel, Brent Laybolt, Katie Upham, Robert Green, Dan Cashen, Melissa Buckler, Greg Hirsh, Kate Melvin, Paige Moorhouse, Vicky Mills, Landon Morton, Jo Parker, Ashton Stephenson, Lauren Scott, Sarah Morrison, Rachelle Gallant, Mario Lambert, Jean-Phillipe Bernard, Shelly Techenkin, & Jason Bourne.
