Hôpital Montfort and Ottawa Paramedic Service Pilot an Emergency Department Program
Ottawa, November 8, 2022 — In June 2022, the Ottawa Paramedic Service and Hôpital Montfort launched a pilot program that integrates Primary Care Paramedics into the Montfort Emergency Department. The program aims to reduce paramedic offload delays, increase the availability of paramedic resources in the community, and improve patient flow within the hospital.
The program includes four Primary Care Paramedics working 12-hour shifts in Montfort’s Emergency Department, providing 12-hour coverage, seven days a week. When an ambulance arrives, the patient’s care can be transferred from the transporting paramedic crew to the paramedic working in the Emergency Department. This allows the paramedic crew to return to the community so they can be available for the next call.
While working in Montfort’s Emergency Department, each paramedic can monitor and care for up to four patients at once. The paramedics work within their professional scope of practice under the medical direction of an Emergency Department physician. The Emergency Department physician provides the paramedics with the authority to perform various medical procedures and diagnostic tests. This promotes improved patient offload, continuity of care, and patient flow within the hospital. Montfort is the first hospital in our city to implement this integrated approach.
Daily, Montfort is seeing a reduction in paramedic offload delay in the Emergency Department. For example, over the course of one day in September, one paramedic eliminated over 30 hours of offload delay by caring for seven patients during their shift.
Montfort covers the staffing costs of the Primary Care Paramedics working there. The program was initially piloted for a three-month period and owing to its success has been extended until September 30, 2023.
The partnership between the Ottawa Paramedic Service and Hôpital Montfort demonstrates the innovation and leadership of both organizations in responding to community needs, requests for service and an ever-changing healthcare landscape.
Quotes
"The challenges we face in healthcare are requiring us to rethink the way we do things and to challenge the status quo. The integration of paramedics into our emergency team is one example. It is also a reflection of the resilience of our staff, who are dedicated to providing an exceptional experience, with you, for you."
“This program is just one of the impressive efforts by the Ottawa Paramedic Service to continuously improve its services to our growing city. My thanks to Montfort for its leadership in this important initiative.”
“On behalf of the Ottawa Paramedic Service, I am proud to partner with the Montfort on this exciting initiative and remain committed to working with local hospitals to identify additional strategies for reducing offload delay and increasing our ability to respond to the needs of Ottawa’s communities.”
About Montfort
Hôpital Montfort is Ontario’s Francophone Academic Hospital, offering exemplary person-centred care. The hospital serves over 1.2 million people in Eastern Ontario, in both official languages. In 2018, it earned Accreditation with Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada, and is the first francophone host as the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario’s flagship Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO).
With its main partners, the University of Ottawa and La Cité college, as well as other post-secondary programs, Montfort is preparing the next generation of Francophone healthcare professionals. Since 2015, it has joined the ranks of Canada’s top 40 research hospitals through the activities of the Institut du Savoir Montfort, its knowledge institute. Montfort strives to become “your hospital of reference for outstanding services, designed with you and for you”. In 2019, it was named one of the world’s top 1000 hospitals.
Media requests
communications@montfort.on.ca
B-roll of the Montfort Emergency Department is available upon request.
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