Baycrest's Virtual Behaviour Medicine

Over the past year, NSM Specialized Geriatric Services connected with Baycrest’s Virtual Behaviour Medicine (VBM) program to better coordinate services. As more people in the region became aware of the VBM program, referrals began to increase. In many cases, we were not aware VBM was involved and VBM was not fully aware of our services in the region. Our leaders connected and quickly realized there was an opportunity for us to better collaborate and integrate services to optimize resource use and ensure the best possible outcomes for older adults in the region.

VBM is a provincial program that uses a virtual care model to assess and manage responsive behaviours in dementia.  Their team of specialists include; behavioural neurologist, neuro-psychiatrist, nurses, pharmacist, mental health professionals and their local Behaviour Support Ontario team. They work in close collaboration with care teams and specialized geriatric services in acute care hospitals and long-term care homes and with family members in the community to help them develop and implement care plans, access behavioural and social supports and provide follow-up.  

Recognizing how this work interfaces with our local services, we connected teams and clinicians, including our Central Intake teams. Going forward, if referrals are made to the VBM team, they will connect with us to see if we have been involved. This helps ensure local resources are used as the first line of defense. In some cases, we will engage the VBM team when we both feel an additional set of specialists could help us optimize clinical outcomes. If the VBM team does get involved in any local cases, they will leverage our team to support monitoring and a quicker transition.

We are excited about this partnership for our region. It continues to move us toward a more integrated regional system of care. If you have a referral you feel would be appropriate to either our Geriatric Mental Health Team (which supports older adults with responsive behaviours and/or older adults living with serious mental illness) or the VBM program, please reach out. If you aren’t sure – don’t worry!  We’ll connect behind the scenes to ensure the older adult receives the care they need!

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