Online tools speed surgery, services, and referrals

Blog Author: Tara Lyon

The days of patients being stuck on a surgical waitlist with little or no information about options or wait times are quickly receding into the dark ages. The past few years have seen a number of online resources spring up that empower patients to research surgery accessibility and give physicians province-wide access to information on specialists and services for their patients.

The latest of these resources is Fraser Health’s new user-friendly service to help patients find a surgeon who can perform their surgery as soon as possible. The Soonest Surgery Tool, available on the Fraser Health website, consists of a simple drop-down surgery selection menu. When the necessary surgery is chosen, the program uses data from the Ministry of Health’s Surgical Patient Registry to calculate and display the top five most available surgeons to provide the procedure.

The results change on a regular basis as new information is entered into the registry regarding the number of patients referred to each surgeon and operating room availability.

The Soonest Surgery Tool can be used by physicians or patients--at the time of their initial referral, patients can request that their doctor visit the Fraser Health physicians’ website and refer them to a surgeon generated by the tool. If patients are already on a wait list, they can use the tool themselves and request that their physician refer them to a surgeon who can perform their procedure sooner.

The BC Surgical Patient Registry is a central registry of operating room booking data from all surgical facilities in BC created by the BC Ministry of Health in 2007. The data is used by health care professionals throughout the province to manage surgical access and resources, and by surgeons who wish to view their own waitlists.

Data from the registry also make possible the existence of BC’s patient-accessible Surgical Wait Times Website which calculates an approximate wait time for surgeries using an interactive human body graphic to peruse surgery types.

Another innovative new online resource is the Community Healthcare and Resource Directory (CHARD). CHARD is a joint collaboration between the BCMA’s General Practice Services Committee and the Ministry of Health, designed to assist physicians and medical office staff in making more efficient patient referrals. CHARD lists every specialist physician in BC, and covers services and practitioners in areas such as cancer, palliative care, mental health, and addiction.

Specialists can use CHARD to provide GPs with a referral template stating their area of practice and availability, to ensure that they receive referrals applicable to them. GPs can search the directory to contact specialists taking referrals, and to find and recommend resources for patients. The directory can be searched by conditions, services, therapies, and practitioners.

While needing surgery or a referral for medical services from a specialist is never going to be an enjoyable experience, technology is rapidly evolving to make things a little less painful for patients and health care providers alike.