Page 115 - Hospital Authority Convention 2017

Parallel Sessions

PS3.3 Nurse Clinic 14:30 Room 221

Review of Nurse Clinic
Lee SWY
Nursing Services Division, Hospital Authority Head Office, Hong Kong HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2017
Nurse clinic has long been an integral part of the out-patient services in Hospital Authority (HA). It is a structured healthcare
service led by a nurse who possesses the clinical competence and ability to make care decisions, provide advance nursing
therapeutics and make appropriate referrals. The nurse clinic plays a vital role in HA’s healthcare delivery continuum, it
improves not only the patient access to outpatient services but also the continuity of care.

In response to the recommendation of HA review in 2015, a formalised “Reviewed Model of Nurse Clinic in Specialist Out-
patient (SOP) Services” is introduced to shorten the waiting time for SOP services and minimise the disparity of service
provision across clusters.

The new model targets low-risk, high-volume cases in SOP services, and promotes early attention to patient’s problems
by nurses and triage cases for early medical consultation if clinically indicated according to distinguished criteria. Targeted
patients will attend their pre-medical consultation in the nurse clinic, where a nurse will perform an initial assessment,
preliminary workup and nursing intervention. Subsequent medical and/or nurse clinic follow-up will then be arranged for
patient promptly according to individual’s care plan and clinical needs. Doctor could conditionally discharge the patient from
SOPC through nurse clinic, where nurses would assess and discharge the patient if pre-set criteria or conditions are met.

Operational aspects such as definition of waiting time, service throughput, related key performance indicators are included in
the review. This review model would benefit high-pressure areas and specialties of SOP clinics. Tuesday, 16 May

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