Model of Care Initiative in Nova Scotia

The Model of Care Initiative in Nova Scotia is making a positive difference for patients, health care providers and the health system.

A New Way to Deliver Care

The Model of Care Initiative in Nova Scotia (MOCINS) is a joint initiative of the Department of Health & Wellness, district health authorities, and the IWK Health Centre. It included the design, planning and implementation of the new collaborative care model on units in each district health authority/IWK.

Model of Care refers to the way health care services are organized and delivered.

This new way of delivering care uses information on the typical needs of patients on the unit (such as their medical condition, whether they can move around on their own, family support, etc.) to determine how care is organized and who delivers that care. Streamlined processes, faster access to information, and modern technology support staff to provide the safest and best possible patient care.

The Evaluation

Nova Scotia is the first province in Canada to design and implement a new model of care provincially and at the same time conduct a rigorous evaluation of its effects on patients, health care providers, and the health care system overall.

The evaluation, conducted over a period of one year, collected information from patients, families, health care providers and administrators from the first 14 acute care units in the province to implement the new model of care.

The Results

Overall findings:

The Model of Care Initiative has as its vision providers collaborating to deliver patient-centred, high quality and safe health care. At the centre of this model are the patient and family. The evaluation confirms that this vision is being realized.
Implementation of the model has resulted in better patient care and improved job satisfaction for health care providers, and provides significant potential to reduce health human resource shortages.
The model was not designed to provide cost savings to the system, and cost-effectiveness of the model was not measured in the evaluation. However, the evaluation does indicate that the model’s more effective care delivery system and improved processes have the potential to result in savings for the system.

Read more on the evaluation and results in:

Next Steps

District health authorities and the IWK are responsible for care delivery, and many have begun implementing this model more widely because of the success that they’ve seen in their districts. Results from the evaluation of the model of care project will also be considered as collaborative care teams are created and supported in large and small hospitals throughout the province as improvements to emergency care are made.

Stories from districts that implemented the Collaborative Care Model

Read the stories from people across the province who are implementing the new Collaborative Care Model on the front lines. Through their stories, we hope to document the challenges, opportunities and triumphs of working differently to provide patient-centered, high quality, safe and cost effective care.

Standardized Role Descriptions

A key deliverable of the Model of Care Initiative is the establishment of province-wide standardized roles for health professionals to enable more consistent work practices at full scope of practice. A MOCINS Human Resources/People Committee was established to support the development, approval and implementation of standardized role profiles and position descriptions for use in the DHAs/IWK. The documents below have been approved for use. The 'role profile' defines the scope of practice and identifies the opportunities for role optimization. The 'position description' operationalizes the profile into a human resources tool that can be used for determining rate of pay, recruitment, performance management, orientation, career development, etc.

Collaborative Care Guidelines

Building a Better Tomorrow Together

Education to enhance inter-professional collaboration and patient-centred practice within new and existing health care teams is provided.

BBTT modules for BBTT course participants

Health and Wellness