Supporting Care Beyond the Emergency Department

A recent national study on emergency physician burnout has sparked important conversations about the pressures facing Canada's emergency departments. The findings reflect what many healthcare professionals already know: emergency physicians, nurses, and hospital teams continue to care for patients in increasingly complex environments while balancing growing demand.

There is no single solution to these challenges. Supporting emergency departments requires collaboration across the healthcare system, with hospitals, primary care providers, community organizations, and care coordination programs each playing an important role.

One opportunity lies in helping patients navigate the health system before they require emergency care and continuing to support them after they return home.

Supporting Patients Before They Arrive at the Emergency Department

Many people visit the emergency department because they are experiencing symptoms that feel urgent, they are unsure where else to turn, or they cannot access timely care elsewhere. Emergency departments are designed to provide exactly that reassurance and treatment when needed.

At the same time, some conditions can often be safely managed through primary care or other community-based services when patients have timely access and understand their options. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), approximately 15% of emergency department visits between April 2023 and March 2024 were for conditions that could potentially have been managed in primary care, highlighting an opportunity to strengthen access and navigation across the healthcare system.

This is where care coordination can complement—not replace—the work of healthcare providers. By helping patients understand their symptoms, connect with appropriate services, and navigate available resources, care coordinators can support more informed decisions while reinforcing the care already provided across the system.

Early observations from a care coordination program delivered by Serefin suggest that timely access to a care coordinator may help some patients find appropriate care outside the emergency department. In several recent symptom-related interactions, patients shared that they would have visited the emergency department had they not first connected with their care coordinator. While these observations are preliminary, they reinforce the potential value of timely guidance and patient navigation.

Supporting Patients After They Return Home

The patient journey does not end when someone is discharged from the emergency department.

Hospital teams work hard to prepare patients for recovery, often providing detailed instructions, medications, referrals, and follow-up plans before patients leave. Even with excellent discharge planning, navigating those next steps can feel overwhelming once patients return home.

Care coordination can help reinforce those plans by supporting patients as they understand discharge instructions, manage medications, access community resources, schedule follow-up appointments, and navigate referrals. Rather than duplicating clinical care, this type of support helps patients remain connected to the services already recommended by their healthcare team.

Research has consistently shown that strong care transitions contribute to safer, more coordinated recovery and are an important component of improving patient outcomes across the healthcare continuum.  

Supporting Recovery Across the Continuum of Care

The same principles apply beyond emergency medicine.

For surgical patients, proactive education before and after a procedure can help patients feel more confident throughout their recovery. Whether it involves pre-operative education, understanding medications, wound care, physiotherapy, or connecting with community supports, timely guidance helps patients understand what to expect and where to turn with questions.

These interventions are not intended to replace clinical care. Instead, they strengthen continuity by helping patients remain engaged with the care plans developed by their providers.

Stronger Connections Create a Stronger Healthcare System

Emergency physician burnout reflects the increasing complexity of healthcare, not a lack of dedication from the professionals delivering it.

Supporting patients before they arrive at the emergency department and after they return home will not solve every challenge facing Canada's healthcare system. However, improving care coordination and patient navigation represents one practical way to strengthen continuity of care, reinforce the work of healthcare providers, and help patients access the right care at the right time.

As healthcare continues to evolve, the greatest opportunities may not come from adding new points of care, but from creating stronger connections between the ones that already exist.