Holistic grounding brings better patient navigation
Jess Nolan’s diversity of experience has created a grounding for her new role as a nurse navigator supporting hospitals patients move into ongoing care in the community.
For Jess Nolan, dealing with critically ill patients as well as those needing ongoing care and support in the community or their home, has been a great grounding for her new role as a nurse navigator.
Jess currently works in Community and Oral Health’s (COH) Referral and Navigation Service and supports the transition of Metro North Health hospital patients into longer-term community care.
“I have more than six years’ experience in the acute health care system as I have worked in the Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Care Service at The Prince Charles Hospital,” she said.
“More recently, I was in patient discharge planning at Caboolture Hospital and working in a community setting as part of the Complex Chronic Disease Team.
“Both experiences have given me a great grounding in the preventative health pathway.
“My patient outcomes and discharge planning experiences bridge both perspectives of the acute and community setting, it is useful for finding the middle ground for a patient or family.”
The COH Nurse Navigator has been a Registered Nurse for more than 10 years.
“From a discharge planning perspective, we have to ensure when people leave hospital that they receive safe continuity of care,” she said.
“As a Nurse Navigator you see more patients requiring more long term and preventative cares due to so many complex risk factors and ongoing medical conditions,” she said.
“I love this role, as it requires the establishment of many different bridges from the acute care setting, and involves so many different disciplines of nursing.
“The key is in understanding how busy health care can get and I am happy to be a transition point to get our patients into an ongoing health service as easily as possible.”
Jess said that it had been a natural progression to become a nurse navigator who supports patients from hospital into community-based care and creates less resistance and a more accessible pathway for clinicians.
“Being able to speak to patients during a time that isn’t as acute and see what they want is important as it gives them time to make changes,” she said.
“Having more situational awareness of COH, the referrer process and understanding what all the referrers are going through, as well as the patient outcomes required is a key ingredient to supporting our patients.”
Jess said majority of COH referrals meet the service requirements, it was the minority of referrals that were more multifaceted, have more complex conditions and need support in navigating ongoing care.
The Nurse Navigator role is part of a newly established Navigation team which supports complex or redirected referrals from Metro North Health hospitals to the appropriate community service.
Community-based care is a vital part of Metro North Health’s ability to meet increasing patient demand on hospitals and expectations that health services are delivered closer to home.
Locally, COH operates hundreds of beds across Home Hospital, rehabilitation, transition care and specialist residential aged care services located at Brighton, Zillmere, Red Hill and Kippa Ring.