Like many provinces, patients in Nova Scotia are faced with long wait times to see a specialist which can delay the delivery of care.
Nova Scotia Health is working with Virtual Hallway, a solution built by clinicians in Nova Scotia, to enable the collaboration of primary care providers and specialists to minimize patient wait times to see a specialist. Virtual Hallway allows for clinician-to-clinician phone consultations in which primary care providers can book a consultation with their desired specialty to discuss a patient’s case. In doing so, the primary care providers are able to solicit advice, direction, and expertise to support more robust quality referrals or ideally determine the diagnosis.
This project aims to:
● Increase the number of patients benefiting from a specialist consultation
● Improve the experience for both primary care providers and specialists
● Reduce the need for traditional referral appointments
● Reduce the length of time between request and consultation for specialist appointments
This collaboration will not only reduce burdens on Nova Scotia’s health care system but ultimately lead to earlier diagnoses and improved patient outcomes.