Department of Critical Care Medicine patient follow-up clinic

Patients transferred out of DCCM are followed up by registered nurses working as part of the follow-up service.

A follow-up coordinator liaises with the DCCM nurse consultant. The service is overseen by the DCCM Quality Group.

Patients who are discharged or transferred from the DCCM are contacted within six months. Nurses document if patients are contacted after six months.

The objectives of the patient follow-up clinic are to:

• provide professional and effective telephone contact with, or account of, patients who have experienced a critical illness that involved admission to the DCCM
• provide a quality service that provides support, reassurance and information to patients and families following critical illness
• allow family and patients the opportunity to debrief and be referred to a GP or appropriate health service if necessary
• collect and document data surrounding the patient’s perspective of their DCCM experience that will inform DCCM staff on patient outcomes and quality of service
• report and utilise the information gathered to meet the objectives of the quality plan, promoting a standard of excellence in patient care
• protect the information in a manner that complies with the requirements of the Health Information Privacy Code
• provide an effective monitoring system of quality of service for the DCCM.

Bereavement follow-up clinic

DCCM provides a nurse-led Bereavement Follow-up clinic to the next-of-kin and their families/whanau of patients who have died following a critical illness in the DCCM.

The Bereavement Follow-up Clinic's objectives are to:

•   Determine how the next-of-kin are coping in early bereavement
•   Answer any unanswered questions
•   Ensure that the next-of-kin understands why their relative died
•   Facilitate resolution of issues by appropriate referral, information or family  meeting

Next-of-kin are informed of the Bereavement follow-up service by a posted information sheet 7 – 14 days after the death and then contacted by telephone four to twelve weeks after the death and consent for an interview is obtained. A structured telephone interview is undertaken on how the next-of-kin are coping, and about the experience, they had during end-of-life care for their relative.  As appropriate, referrals are written, issues addressed and further family meetings arranged with intensivists when required.

The interview is entered into a database for analysis and continuous quality improvement initiatives.

More information can be found in our bereavement information pamphlet [PDF, 873 KB]

If you need to get in touch with us before this time, please telephone DCCM on 09 307 4949 ext 24800. Ask to speak with the Clinical Charge Nurse. They will ensure your contact details are referred to a member of the Bereavement Team, who will make contact with you as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can email us and the Bereavement Team will contact you.