Patient Summary Launches in YourHealthNS | | |
This week, a new feature launched in YourHealthNS that gives Nova Scotians a secure, easy-to-share snapshot of their key health information.
Anyone 16+ with a YourHealthNS account can generate a Patient Summary and share it for up to 24 hours with a trusted person, such as a healthcare provider, family member or caregiver. Patient Summary provides a high-level snapshot of information such as allergies, medications, recent diagnostic imaging, lab results, immunizations and ongoing medical conditions.
To learn more about Patient Summary, and to access the FAQ's and resources created for healthcare teams, visit https://physicians.nshealth.ca/yourhealthns.
| | Estimated Date of Discharge (EDD) Resources | |
Did you know that the Estimated Date of Discharge (EDD) is a key component for enhancing patient care?
EDDs outline the expected timeline of the patient’s journey through the healthcare system, helping care teams anticipate needs and deliver more timely, coordinated care.
Read more about how EDDs enhance patient flow here.
For more information about EDD please visit our new resources:
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EDD Library Guide – provides staff and physicians with streamlined access to up-to-date EDD information, reference documents and links to related content.
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EDD Clinical Support Dashboard – provides staff and physicians with access to CIHI Expected Length of Stay (ELOS) data to use as a reference when setting a baseline EDD. Providers can now easily access this from the Compass page under Clinical Application under E, and no longer require Tableau to view this information. This includes the new Baseline EDD Calculator that staff can use to help determine a patient's EDD.
| | Accreditation Town Hall - Recording Now Available | | |
Did you miss the Accreditation Town Hall on November 20, 2025? The recording is now available here.
Catch up on:
- Key changes leading up to the next site visit
- What to expect during the visit itself and
- What these changes mean for our teams across the organization
Questions? Reach out to accreditation@nshealth.ca.
Learn more about Accreditation at Nova Scotia Health here.
| | Global Workforce Survey (GWS) Executive Summary | | |
Thank you to the 8,122 employees and physicians who participated in the Global Workforce Survey (GWS), which gathered feedback from June to August 2025. With more than 8,000 responses, we achieved a 24.5 per cent response rate.
The executive summary of the GWS results is now available. This summary provides a high-level view of how our teams experience both work-life quality and patient safety culture, helping us identify where to focus our efforts to enhance staff well-being, patient care, and overall organizational success. Click here for the full message from Dr. Nicole Boutilier, Executive Vice-President, Medicine and Clinical Operations, and Anna Marenick, Vice President, People, Culture and Belonging.
Physician-specific results will be included in a detailed report that will be shared with leadership in the near future.
An FAQ is available here.
Questions can be directed to accreditation@nshealth.ca.
| | One Person One Record (OPOR) Program Updates | | |
Provider Corner: Your central hub for physician-centric OPOR info
Stay connected, informed and prepared with content on the Provider Corner—your hub for everything OPOR from a physician perspective.
Provider Corner has direct links to FutureFlow (provider-focused in-system demonstrations), physician-centric Q&A content in Cut the Clutter, Education and Learning Content and ways to get engaged as a Peer Mentor or Provider Champion.
Bookmark this page, as it is updated often with new information.
OPOR meeting and engagement update
With the Wave One implementation on the horizon, OPOR has paused several OPOR engagement events for December. Executive Leadership Council, Manager Forum meetings, the December Virtual Town Hall, as well as any Change Champion session, will not occur in December as the team focuses on the Wave One implementation. Activities will resume in earnest in the new year!
Reminder: IWK Health Records in SHARE Clinical Portal
Effective December 6, 2025, when IWK Health goes live with the OPOR-CIS, the SHARE Clinical Portal will no longer receive new results or records from IWK Health, and these will instead appear in Provider Portal. Physicians can request access to the Provider Portal by logging a ticket in Assyst.
Please note: Currently, Provider Portal only has records from January 2023 onward. Records prior to January 2023 are currently only available in Share or existing legacy systems. Updates will follow in the coming months when pre-2023 data will be available through Provider Portal.
| Physician Assistant Day: November 27 | |
Each year on Nov. 27, Nova Scotia Health joins Canadians in celebrating Physician Assistant (PA) Day, a chance to recognize the essential contributions PAs make across the healthcare system.
Read more to meet a few of these exceptional medical professionals, whose work is making our province stronger. We are so grateful.
| World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week | | |
Going Blue for AMR 💙
Province House, Halifax City Hall and the Municipality of the County of Colchester shone blue on Monday, November 24 in recognition of World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week (WAAW), observed globally from November 18–24.
The 2025 theme, “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future,” emphasizes the urgent call to safeguard the effectiveness of these essential, life-saving treatments.
Nova Scotia Health stands with the international community in acknowledging this important week, a time to consider how each of us can use antibiotics and other antimicrobials wisely and responsibly.
We all have a role to play in preventing antimicrobial resistance by reducing infections through good hand hygiene, keeping vaccinations up to date, and using antibiotics only when necessary. Fewer infections mean fewer antibiotics, and a healthier future for everyone.
Explore resources and best practices to support the safe and effective use of antimicrobials:
For patients: Home - Using Antibiotics Safely - LibGuides at Nova Scotia Health
For healthcare providers: https://library.nshealth.ca/AMS
| | General Practitioners in Oncology: Quarterbacks in Community Cancer Care | | |
Cancer care is like a team sport, with each member of the team playing a different but critical role. General practitioners in oncology (GPOs) are key members of that team, working side-by-side with other oncology specialists, and with community teams, to provide medical leadership and care in community cancer clinics.
Dr. Karen Howlett and Dr. Karma Murphy are two GPOs at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital community cancer clinic. Read more to learn about their passion for their work and hear from a patient, firsthand, about how Nova Scotia GPOs are improving lives for individuals and families affected by cancer.
| | New Learning Opportunity: Frailty-Informed Care Module Now Live! | |
Frailty matters—early recognition can significantly improve outcomes for older adults living with frailty.
The Frailty-Informed Care LMS Module helps direct care teams understand frailty, assess it using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and apply that understanding to guide care planning, particularly in acute care settings.
By completing this 30-minute module, you’ll learn how to:
✅ Recognize frailty early and assess it using the CFS
✅ Apply CFS scores to create individualized care plans that prevent unintentional harm and support timely discharge
✅ Reinforce your learning with patient examples
This training supports key Nova Scotia Health initiatives like the Early Mobility Program, SAFER-f, Home First and Health Beyond Hospital, helping us deliver better outcomes for older adults living with frailty.
Why it matters: Early identification of frailty means fewer hospital-acquired complications, smoother transitions home and improved quality of life for our patients.
📚 Start learning today:
- Visit https://elearning.nshealth.ca/ and login using your Nova Scotia Health network login
- Click on the Catalogue tab and enter course code 1539 in the keywords field
- Course will display on the page, add to your learning and complete
For more information about how the Frailty and Elder Care Network is working to support enhanced patient care and outcomes, visit the Frailty and Elder Care Network on The Compass
| November Medical Affairs Podcast Now Available | | |
Coaching Physicians: A Prescription for Leadership – Listening: A Strategic Leadership Move
In this month’s podcast, executive coaches Lorie Campbell and Verna MacDonald explore the art, practice and power of listening.
Listening: A Strategic Leadership Move demonstrates how this simple but active tool can help leaders build trust, gain buy-in and empower their teams. You will learn to distinguish three levels of listening and how to actively listen better so you can lead more effectively with less effort.
Listen to the podcast episode here: Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
The Medical Affairs leadership development team works to provide physician leaders with resources and supports to improve leadership effectiveness to respond to system challenges and improve the quality of patient care. Learn more about leadership coaching and supports here.
| | Physician Learning Opportunities | | |
Medical Affairs Webinar Series:
Inspired Leadership for Physicians:
Leading with Presence, Empathy and Purpose
Understanding Moral Injury in Physicians with Dr. Muna Chowdhury
🗓 Date: December 9, 2025
🕚 Time: 5:00 pm.–6:30 p.m.
💻 Location: Online (Zoom)
Moral injury refers to the psychological, emotional and spiritual distress that arises when individuals are forced to act—or are unable to act—in ways that conflict with their deeply held moral beliefs.
These ethically challenging decisions resulted in many physicians and healthcare providers, who were at the forefront of resource management, to experience moral distress—and repeated moral distress resulted in moral injury. Moral injury is also closely associated with empathic stress and secondary traumatic stress, further worsening the psychological burden experienced by physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Dr. Muna Chowdhury is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University Dr. Chowdhury is the Founder of ‘Thrive Youth Clinic, a Physician Professional Peer Counselor with DNS’ Professional Support Program.
Register for this virtual session here.
| | Physician Wellness Resources | | | | |
If you're a physician seeking support for your practice or wishing to provide feedback, please reach out to our hotline. Our dedicated team is ready to assist you.
In the event we're engaged in another call, rest assured your voice message will be promptly addressed within one business day. Your concerns will be directed to the Medical Affairs team and our health system partners for resolution.
Our task force is committed to returning calls and scheduling meetings with practices at mutually convenient times.
| | Physician Wellness Resources | | |
Wellness resources for physicians have been migrated to an actively monitored page on the Physician Information Portal. You can access it here.
If you have an item to submit, please reply to this newsletter.
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