Ambulatory Care Services

Emergency Department

- Mission :

• Our client-centered approach ensures that a person arriving at the emergency at any time with an urgent health problem will receive quality care and services appropriate to his/her condition
• Designated Level 1 trauma center
• Services available 24/7

- Personnel :

• Physician
• To assess the condition of the patient
• To provide appropriate care and advice
• To admit patient for observation in the Emergency Department, for intensive care in the Intensive Care unit, or for follow-up care on the General Care Unit, if necessary
• To refer, if necessary, to other facilities
• Nurse
• To ensure the triage of patients in reception area
• To receive and assess patients
• To work in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team
• To ensure the application of the delegated medical acts
• To provide appropriate care and teaching to patients and their families
• To provide support to patients and their families during crisis
• To accompany patients by ambulance for transfer to another health establishment, as required
• Secretary
• To receive and register patients
• To direct them to the required services
• To prepare the appropriate forms
• To complete monthly statistics
• To manage telephone calls to the department
• To arrange patient appointments ordered by Emergency Physician, as required
• Multidisciplinary team
• Includes Liaison Nurse, Psychologist, Social Worker, Dietician, Physiotherapist, Ergotherapist, Pharmacist, Inhalotherapist
• Available to assist clients with their special needs, as required
• Diagnostic team
• Includes laboratory technologist, ECG and radiology technicians
• Responsible to complete diagnostic tests, including blood work, electrocardiograms and x-ray

      

External clinic

HOURS OF OPERATION: Monday to Friday, 08:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment

• Mission :
• To assure the accessibility of specialized medical services to the population of the Pontiac
• To assure minor surgery services to the population of the Pontiac on an out-patient basis
• To provide teaching through the Diabetic Clinic to the Diabetic population and their families
• Types of clinics :
• Specialists
• available by appointment
• Internal medicine specialist on a full time basis
• General surgeon (1)
• available full-time for consultations
• minor surgery clinic once a week
• Gastroenterologist (1)
• available full-time for consultations
• clinic once a week

• Ophtalmologists (2)
• each available 1-2 times per month
• Ear, nose and throat (2)
• each available 1-2 times per month
• Gynecologists
• available 1-2 times per month
• Orthopedic specialist (1)
• available once a month
• Hemato-oncologist (1)
• available once a month
• Pre-operative clinic
• Anaesthetist and Operating Room Nurse meets and assesses patients before their surgery. Diagnostic tests are done at this time, as necessary.
• Minor surgery clinics
• Available to our surgeon and all physicians practicing at the Pontiac Hospital Centre.
• Diabetic clinic
• Available to the Diabetic population of the Pontiac and their family 3-4 times per year. This clinic is composed of a physician, a nurse, a dietician and a Mental Health nurse. The goal of this clinic is to assist the diabetic person to attain a better quality of life and to prevent long term complications associated with diabetes through education. Referrals can be made by the family physician or by individual request.
• Eye measurement clinic
• Every patient to have cataract surgery requires eye measurements. These are done by a nurse upon request from the ophthalmologist.
• Personnel :
• Specialist
• provide consultation services
• assess the referred client
• provide care and advice to the client and treating physician
• Physicians
• perform procedures or minor surgery for their patients on out-patients basis
• Nurse
• assists the physician to carry out diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
• provides nursing care and teaching to the patients
• Medical secretary
• receives and registers clients
• directs clients to required services
• prepares appropriate forms
• assures appropriate follow-up to appointments

Intensive Care Unit

VISITING HOURS : restricted to 5 min. per hour

• Mission :
• To provide medical and nursing care to all patients in an unstable or critical condition in a contained environment
• To provide close surveillance and precise observations by competent professional personnel
• Clientele
• Unstable patients requiring close surveillance who have been referred by the Emergency Room Physician from the Emergency Department, by attending physicians from the General Care Unit, or by the surgeon or anaesthetist from the Operating Room.
• Personnel
• Physicians
• Internal medicine specialist- available full time for consultations and treatment
• All physicians who have privileges in Intensive Care at the Pontiac Hospital Centre
• Nurses
• Provide continuous nursing care that includes systematic nursing assessment, identification and priorizing problems, planning and implementing appropriate patient care
• Integrates medical and nursing orders
• Identifies life threatening situations and initiates appropriate action
• Demonstrates competence in performing approved delegated medical acts and technical skills
• Use therapeutic communication techniques and support measures to assist the patient and their families to cope with intensive care situations
• Provide the patient and family with appropriate information and instruction
• Explain all treatments and assure continual presence of nurse
• Document accurately the patient's status, the care given and the care effectiveness
• Inhalotherapist
• Provide therapeutic services to the patients, as required
• Assist with the transfer of patients to another health establishment, as required
• Assist with ventilator support of patients, as required

Day medicine

HOURS OF OPERATION : Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, by appointment

• Mission
• Furnish an alternative to hospitalization by offering, on an ambulatory basis, hospital resources required for medical care
• Maintain the client, as much as possible, in his own natural environement
• Clientele
• Provide services to those clients whose stay will be eight hours, or less, Monday to Friday. Clients must be in stable condition and independant
• Services offered :
• blood transfusions
• IV antibiotic therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Sterile dressing changes
• Insulin adjustment/teaching for diabetic patients
• Injections
• Insertion of PICC lines
• Personnel
• Attending physicians
• Refers patients to Day Medicine
• Writes orders for those patients
• For long treatments, assesses patient once a week in Day Medicine
• Nurse
• Receives referrals and decides if services can be given in Day Medicine
• Arranges appointment times with patients
• Assures diagnostic tests are completed and sent to appropriate doctor internal or external
• Maintains appropriate statistics
• Provides prescribed treatments to patients
• Assure appropriated follow-up of patients
• Maintains medical records

Liaison Nursing Services

To assure coordination between medical, nursing, diagnostic and readaptation services (internal and external)
To assure efficient use of short term beds in collaboration with the team leaders and the medical coordinator

• Personnel
• Medical coordinator
• Designated physician from the Pontiac Hospital Centre
• Nurse
• Support and advise to the Emergency Room staff to prevent unnecessary admissions and to inform of alternative resources
• Assist General Care Unit staff with discharge planning
• Review CLSC referrals for feasibility
• Liaison person - interestablishment
• Liaison with COA and alternative resources for patients awaiting evaluation or placement
• Liaison with treating physicians for problems cases
• Coordination of intravenous therapy on the territory
• Coordination of patient transfers from other establishments to Pontiac Hospital Centre

Departments of Surgery and Anaesthesia

HOURS OF OPERATION  : from Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

On call for Emergency surgeries
Say surgery, Recovery Room, Operating Room, Preanaestesia Clinic, Central Supply

• Mission
• To provide an optimum level of care to the surgical patient by effective utilization of qualified staff and technical equipment in a multidisciplinary team approach
• To maintain the client, as much as possible, in his own natural environment by offering an alternative to hospitalization through the Day Surgery Unit
• To identify and resolve pre-operative problems as soon as possible, in order to prevent the cancellation of surgery
• Offered services
• General and specialized minor and major surgical procedures on an outpatient basis, on a same day admit basis, and on an in-patient basis. Procedures done under local, spinal, regional or general anaesthesia, as warranted
• Specialized surgical procedures include cataract surgery, ear, nose and throat surgery (T+A, septoplasty, rhinoplasty) and tubal ligation
•  General surgical procedures include hernia repairs, cholecystectomy, bowel resections, D+C, hysterectomy, breast lumpectomy, C sections and bone surgery. Diagnostic procedures include gastroscopes
•  Clientele
•  Referred for surgery by their attending physician. Patient has consultation appointment with the surgeon, who discusses the option of surgery with him/her. Patient is seen by anaesthetist and nurse in pre-operative clinic for assessment. Diagnostic evaluations are done at this time. Patient is booked for surgery on an outpatient, same-day admit or inpatient basis, as necessary
• If patient requires medical care prior to surgery, he/she is admitted to the General Care Unit. Same day admit patients present at the hospital the morning of their surgery. Outpatients have their surgery and return home the same day
• Personnel
• 1 General Surgeon
• At present, has an office at the Pontiac Hospital Centre. Performs surgical and diagnostic procedures  Monday to Thursday mornings. Has minor surgery clinic Friday morning. Does formal consultatioons Thursday afternoons. Available for urgent consults and trauma cases 24/7. Available for emergency surgery 24/7.
• 2 Anaesthetists
• Share operating room schedule and call. Available for pain management in Obstetrics and post-operative in Intensive Care and General Care. Case management of ventilated patients.
• 7 Surgical specialists including :
• 2 ophtalmologists
• 2 Ear, nose and throat specialist
• 2 Gynecologists
• 1 Gastroenterologist
• 6 Trained operating room nurses
• Assess patient's physical and learning needs in preoperative clinic
• Admit patients and prepare them for surgical intervention or procedure
• Assist surgeon throughout the surgery / procedure
• Provide constant surveillance of the patient until his/her recovery from anaesthesia
• Provide nursing care as required
• Assist in transfer of patients within the department and to their hospital room, if admitted
• Provide post-operative teaching
• Prepares patient for discharge home
• Maintain stock inventory in the department
• Secretarial duties including chart preparations and maintenance and statistic recording and verification
• Inhalotherapy team
• Provide support to the anaesthetist, as required
• Secretary
• Maintains surgeon's office
• Proveds secretarial support to the Anaesthetist and nurses at pre-operative clinic
• Provides secretarial support to the surgeon and minor surgery and consultation clinics