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The Mental Health Inpatient Unit Discharge Coordinator at the Royal Darwin Hospital engages with the Multi-Disciplinary Team, external service providers, urban and remote communities to coordinate safe, planned and effective discharges. The role requires specialised knowledge and skills to develop therapeutic patient centred care relationships with consumers and their families to plan appropriate discharges from the Top End Mental Health Inpatient Unit (IPU). One of the key features of this role is the ability to build strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders and capacity to strengthen partnerships for networking, effective discharges and making connections. The Top End region of the Northern Territory (NT) alone encompasses over 100,000 km2 where consumers travel from rural and remote areas for an acute mental health admission. Previously this role was facilitated by the Bed Manager within the IPU. It was identified that the role needed to be separated from the Bed Manager, as the hybrid model for both Discharge Planner and Bed Manager was creating gaps for consumers being discharged from the IPU. Hence, in 2022 the Discharge Coordinator role was further developed within the IPU for safer, coordinated and comprehensive discharges and improved patient flow. The impact of this pivotal role has been improved communication with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Aboriginal Mental Health Workers, psychiatric treating teams, Allied Health, the consumers, their families and carers. Results from qualitative interviews with providers involved will be discussed. Have the Mental Health consumer outlier numbers reduced since the development of the role? What are the changes in other quantitative measures, such as the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of 28 day re-admission rates and 7 day community follow up? Have these measures improved since the implementation of this new role?
The presentation will explore the risks if this new and unique mental health nurse discharge planner role had not been developed and separated from the hybrid model. The impact of this role is significant due to the complexity of admissions, burden of illness, vast geographical distances and social determinants of health for First Nations people in the NT. |
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