NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: health services

Objective(s): To evaluate the impact of the upcoming NWT Department of Health and Social Services centralized Air Ambulance Triage, Dispatch and Coordination Service entitled Med-Response.

Project Description: To evaluate the impact of the upcoming NWT Department of Health and Social Services centralized Air Ambulance Triage, Dispatch and Coordination Service entitled Med-Response, showing it has a positive impact on efficiency and a possible benefit for the Nunavut health department to consider adopting a similar system. A separate research licence is being sought in Nunavut, which will act as a "control" for this study. This project will track Air Ambulance and other medical travel Services in the two territories for 2 years prior to April 2014 (2012/13, 2013/14) and 2 years after (2014/15, 2015/16). This is primarily a descriptive study of policy impact. Both territories maintain medical travel logs which are primarily for accounting purposes (ie. reimbursement of air carriers). The database contains the following types of information, after stripping off personal identification: Community of origin, destination facility, date, time, diagnosis, scheduled flight/Air Ambulance, age/sex of patient. A separate, but unlinked, database is maintained at the recipient facility indicating disposition of the arriving patient (admitted to hospital, treated and discharged, etc.). Based on the information from these two sources the research team shall perform geo-spatial mapping of the volume of Air Ambulance dispatches and associated costs following the care pathway. The research team shall determine the impact of the implementation of Med-Response in NWT in terms of the alteration of the existing pattern of travel and any improvements in patient outcomes and quality of care that could be attributed to the Med-Response. This is a project involving databases and no direct contact with individuals in communities, who will not be participants in the study. However, residents of NWT will benefit from an improved medical travel system, receiving prompt and appropriate care, potentially reduced separation from families and friends. The overall goal of improving quality of care will have widespread social benefits also. Economic savings by GNWT and the health authorities will enable scarce resources to be allocated to other socially important issues. Results will be presented to GNWT Health, regional health authorities, and professional associations of health care practitioners in the territory. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from April 10, 2014 to December 31, 2014.