SUPPORTING PATIENT ACCESS TO CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION, INTERVENTIONS AND SURGERY: DEVELOPMENT OF A CLINICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVINCIAL WAIT LIST MANAGEMENT TOOL

Abstract

The monitoring of patient access and quality of cardiac care in British Columbia is supported by a web-based electronic cardiac information system which captures patients’ journey from referral for cardiac catheterization and surgery in a single clinical information structure. In the past year, this application has enabled significant improvement in patient access to cardiac procedures by providing accurate, real time and site-specific wait list data. Nurses play a pivotal role in health services and system management, utilize administrative and clinical data to monitor and coordinate patients’ access to procedures, promote patient safety, and optimize health resource utilization. We will present the software tool established to enhance provincial waitlist management and reporting for Cardiac Services BC (CSBC). We will describe the initial multidisciplinary project development and implementation. We will demonstrate the application’s use as a common numerical and graphic source of information for provincial waitlist management and planning that allows just-in-time decision-making. We will highlight the availability of transparent cardiac site activity, triage processes, queuing, provincial market share, procedure-specific pressures, and urgency reports. We will discuss the significant progress made in BC to improve triage coordination and optimize access to cardiac procedures enabled by nurses’ use of the wait list application. The implementation of real-time and retrospective accurate representations of wait times, volumes, and the availability of tailored reports has been a powerful tool for nurses to monitor access and waitlist process issues, and facilitate patients’ timely access to cardiac procedures in BC.