Virtual triage system to centralize patient transfers

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This article was published 24/12/2022 (1228 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government will centralize inter-facility patient transfers by creating a new virtual triage communications hub run out of 911 emergency call centres in Winnipeg and Brandon, Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced last Wednesday at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach.

The Virtual Emergency Care and Transfer Resource Service, or VECTRS, will be up and running by May 2023, Gordon said.

The service, which carries an annual price tag of $5.5 million, is a plank in the $200 million action plan the province unveiled last month to “retain, train, and recruit” staff to bolster Manitoba’s health-care system.

Gordon said the need to centralize the work of patient transfers, which currently falls to individual facility staff, emerged from her meetings with frontline health-care workers.

VECTRS will offer clinical guidance and patient transfer support to staff at rural emergency departments, urgent care centres, health facilities, and nursing stations 24-7.

The service will be staffed by a team comprised of emergency physicians, advanced care paramedics, and advanced practice respiratory therapists.

“It won’t necessarily take staff away from the bedside,” said Dr. Rob Grierson, Shared Health’s chief medical officer of emergency response services, who developed VECTRS after looking at how other provinces handle patient transfers.

“I think a lot of physicians…are willing to do this kind of work in addition to the work they’re doing.”

Grierson contrasted the new service with the current triage system, which often sees staff make several phone calls to find the right facility for a patient.

“With this (new) model of care,” Grierson said, “patient care teams will spend less time determining where they need to refer their patients, less time making arrangements to transport those patients, and more time focusing on the care of the patient in front of them.”

Gordon said VECTRS will improve access to specialist consultations by offering a single point of contact and reducing physicians’ overall workload.

“We don’t want an individual transferred to one location and relocated to another location,” Gordon said.

Gordon said Manitobans can expect further announcements stemming from the $200 million action plan to follow in the new year.