System Flow – Urban

The Provincial System Flow Department develops services, workflows, and standards to coordinate acute care patient movement across the province. It manages patient intake, internal transfers, discharges, and balances demand and capacity in tertiary centers. The department also develops over-capacity protocols and partners with Digital Health to implement and optimize healthcare management software.

System Flow operates using two main frameworks:

• Real Time Demand Capacity (RTDC)
• Bed Management Framework (BMF)

These frameworks guide patient placement principles and system capacity planning. The department also manages discharge pathways in tertiary centers.

The SFCC is a centralized service based in Regina, that coordinates:

• Physician access to specialists
• Patient placement and movement within tertiary centers
• Admissions and transfers in local area hospitals
• Real-time visibility of all Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) patients and bed capacity

Patient prioritization based on best practice

Saskatoon System Flow Coordinators (SFCs):

• Nurse B located at each tertiary hospital
• Facilitate Daily Bed Flow Rounds and coordinate all RTHHA transfers
• Work 7 a.m. –7 p.m. shifts, including weekends, rotating between hospitals and units
• Liaise daily with North and Rural intake teams SFCC teams

System Flow Specialists (SFSs):

• Provincial team focused on quality improvement and implementation of System Flow initiatives
• Out-of-scope workers with designated projects, present in both cities

System Flow Coordination Center Clerks:

• Handle patient placement for tertiary centers using the Altera Patient Flow (APF) system
• Operate 24/7 at SFCC Urban, with multiple clerks per shift

System Flow Coordination Center Charge Nurses:

• Oversee daily patient flow and capacity management using BMF and RTDC dashboards
• Ensure daily plans for patient movement are made and communicated

Physician Access Line System Flow Coordinators (SFCC SFC):

• Nurse B
• Facilitate doctor to doctor consults

• Use APF, SCM, and daily reporting for transparent real-time demand and capacity (RTDC) updates
• Support and comply with the placement of patients according to Patient Placement Principles
• Discuss discharge planning daily during bed flow rounds
• Provide daily discharge timeline predictions