HPN Referrals
The British Columbia Home Parenteral Nutrition (BC HPN) Program supports patients with intestinal failure in British Columbia and the Yukon.
If you are a health care professional and would like to refer a patient to the Program, please review the information below.
Adult Referrals
Print off the Adult Application Form and fax the completed Form and requested documents to 604-806-8044.
Process:
1. Once the Application Package is received, the BC HPN team reviews in full. One or more of the team members may contact the applicant’s referring physician, dietitian and/or other members of the health care team to confirm pertinent information.
This step takes a minimum of 1 to 2 weeks and may take longer if any of the following apply:
- The patient is not medically stable.
- The patient needs to be switched from intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) medications to oral medications.
- The patient and/or caregiver needs to receive teaching on how to manage the patient’s ostomy, fistula(s), wound(s) or any other non-HPN related conditions, such as diabetes.
- The patient and/or caregiver needs to arrange for funding of non-HPN related supplies, such as ostomy and fistula supplies.
2. If the applicant seems like an appropriate candidate for the Program, our Nurse & Patient Educator completes a Trainability Assessment with the patient and/or caregiver. This assessment takes approximately 45 minutes and is done either in-person or by phone or videoconference (e.g. Zoom).
3. If the applicant ‘passes’ the Trainability Assessment, the patient is then accepted into the BC HPN Program and a training start date is identified. The start date is dependent on the current wait list. Once a patient is accepted into the Program, the average wait time is 2 for 4 weeks. This may be longer if there is a long wait list.
4. If the applicant is located at a hospital other than St. Paul’s Hospital, Patient Transfer Network is used to transfer the patient to St. Paul’s Hospital. If the applicant is located at home, then the patient is responsible for their own transportation to St. Paul’s Hospital for HPN training.
5. The BC HPN Program reserves the right to repatriate a patient back to their hospital of origin for the following reasons:
- The patient is not medically stable, or
- The patient and/or caregiver are not able to successfully complete the training required for HPN.
6. Once the HPN training is complete and the patient is discharged from hospital, the patient is responsible for their own transportation back home.
Pediatric Referrals
Please click here for referral information for the Children’s Intestinal Rehabilitation Program (CHIRP).
