How our Patient Experience Partners (PEPs) help us see through a different lens Odila Hoye doesn’t officially work in health care – she was a teacher and principal for more than 30 years – but she’s currently playing an important role that is helping to improve the care we provide at QHC. Quinte Health Care has about a dozen Patient Experience Partners (PEPs) who act as champions and advocates for enhancing the patient and family experience at our hospitals. The PEPs are volunteers who have had a recent experience at a QHC hospital – either as a patient or a loved one of a patient – and help us look at the care we provide through a different lens, allowing us to better recognize improvement opportunities.
Odila Hoye is one of about a dozen Patient Experience Partners (PEPs) that QHC relies on to offer the patient/community perspective as we make improvements to care.
Odila sat on the planning committee for the new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital and now is a valued member of the Seamless Care working group. She is helping the team determine what information to provide patients at discharge so they are best equipped to continue their recovery at home.
“I value what the hospital does and I also want to see the hospital continuously improve,” said Odila. “I can ask all the questions because I don’t know the ins and outs of the hospital but I can provide the experience and perspective of a patient lying in the bed, because I’ve been there before.” Similarly, Linda Wilson is a Patient Experience Partner in the BGH Emergency Department. Linda attends the monthly Quality Improvement Team meetings and serves as a member of the Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) team looking at assessment and management of pain. “It has been an interesting and valuable learning experience for me,” said Linda. “It has given me the opportunity to become familiar with the routines, policies and challenges of a very demanding department. I am encouraged to offer my non-medical perspective as a family member and community member, and ask questions that possibly haven’t been considered.” “It’s wonderful having Linda as part of our team,” said Diane Smith, Professional Practice Specialist and BPSO Continued Page 2
Extreme Makeover – Transcription Edition! If you had seen the Transcription office before their Kaizen event last July, you’d see a big difference today! With big, grey cubicles and drab, dingy carpet, it was dark and uninviting. Unless team members walked around the room and poked their head into each cubicle, they may not even know who they were working with that day! Things have changed immensely for the Transcription team in the last eight months. They now have an open concept office space with new flooring, fresh paint and new workstations. “We use our new huddle board daily to enhance communication, address concerns, tackle hurdles, and nurture ideas to make the department run more efficiently,” said Kristy Knott, Transcriptionist.
Allison Empey, Transcriptionist, in the newlydesigned Transcription office at TMH.
The many process changes they’ve made have boosted morale and also efficiency. For example, their cycle time (from the time a report is dictated to the time the report is transcribed) was sitting at 18 days in November. It’s now at 9 days. And discharge summaries that were taking an average 6 days to complete in November are now being completed in 1 day. “I am extremely proud of the staff and how dedicated they are to improving patient care and finding efficiencies in their work,” said Sherry Mifsud, Manager. “They contact me all the time with suggestions and are really thinking outside the box.” Members of the Transcription team in front of their huddle board. From left: Allison Empey, Rose Gariepy, Maureen Meeks, Linda Stewart, Brittany Cox, Sandy Pearsall, Lynn Dooling. Missing: Kristy Knott, Cathy Masterson, Wendy King, Linda Galway, Lisa Worobetz.
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lead for pain management. “Her input is greatly valued and has helped simplify the processes and care we provide by focusing on the patient experience.” QHC will continue to recruit more PEPs so that the majority of our programs benefit from the unique perspectives that these volunteers are able to offer, prompting continuous change and improvement across our organization.
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Excellent work being done on BPSO Guidelines! There’s exciting progress being made with our RNAO Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) implementation! QHC’s Professional Practice team is leading the charge on the first five Best Practice Guidelines and, with the help of some wonderful interprofessional champions, they’re making great headway on improving patient care and safety across QHC. The first five Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs) being implemented are: Pressure Injury Prevention (led by Laura Rogers) Pain Management in the Emergency Department (led by Diane Smith) Suicide Risk (led by Susan Murphy) Care Transitions (led by Emily Notaro) Patient and Family-Centred Care (led by Tracey Giles) The implementation teams recently gathered together for an open house to discuss and celebrate the work being done. “We are very proud of our BPG Implementation Teams,” said Terry Holland, Professional Practice Coordinator and BPSO lead. “There’s so much important work being done and all of it will make an incredible difference to patient care. We’re achieving excellence together.” The BPG Leads presented posters at the open house, detailing the work that’s been done and explaining what’s to come (stay tuned for stories about each of the five Best Practice Guidelines in future issues of Vital Signs). “It’s fantastic to hear the specifics about the projects and the enthusiasm the teams have,” commented Susan Rowe, Vice President of People and Strategy, at the open house. “We have made BPSO a corporate-level priority for 2019/20 to ensure the Guidelines are getting good support and moving along at a good pace. Thank you for helping to improve quality and safety for our patients. These initiatives don’t move along without great champions.”
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A calming presence — “I was admi ed yesterday through the BGH emerge for some complica ons with my pregnancy and Glen Lochhead was my a ending nurse. I cannot say enough about how amazing he was with me. I came in alone, as my husband was on his way, and I was very nervous. Glen calmed me down during my en re stay in emerge and talked me through everything. He is an amazing asset to your team and I am thankful that he was there with me!” – Jenn Card
#4MyTeam
#W WeAllHelpProvideCare #ImagineItsYou
Stepping up to the challenge — “On a very busy day, all of the Labour & Delivery nurses on Quinte 7 were ed up and there was no one immediately available to assist with a C‐sec on. Luckily, three of our Pediatric nurses who had recently been cross‐trained (should they be needed during such an occasion) were willing to assist. Thank you to Chris e Moore, Mary Dodds and Karri Boyer for coming together to do what needed to be done. Quinte 7 is a great team. I’m really proud of them.” ‐ Shelley Kay, Quinte 7 Manager
Great greeters — “Thanks to all the volunteers who have recently taken on a gree ng role at the Charlo e Sills entrance at BGH. The volunteers are doing the role brilliantly! They give an enthusias c "hello" to all coming in the door and help people find their way. They are such posi ve hospital ambassadors!” — Jay Moxness, Volunteer Specialist (Pictured: Volunteer Ken Caps ck)
Ready to assist — “Following the fire on Quinte 5, volunteers with the TMH Auxiliary decided they wanted to offer their support in the event of an em mergency situa on at TMH. While they hope it never happens, they wanted to make sure we’re aware that they have a team readyy to step up and help in any way they can. Whether it’s helpin ng to provide informa on to pa ents and their loved ones or supp plying coffee and refreshments to staff and physicians workingg to respond to the emergency, they want to do their part. They haave supplied us with a list of volunteers willing to par cipate in an emergency situa on. I think this is a great example of living our o QHC value “We all help provide care”. I want to thank TMH Auxiliary President Pat Lafferty and her team of dedicated volunteers for their commitment to excep onal care.” — Dave Pym, Emergency Preparedness and Protec on Services Coordinator (Pictured from le : Karen White, Gilda Dolph, Pam Pe grew, Arlene Larosa, Patt Lafferty, Lynn LaRue, Fran Sco )
#WeAllHelpProvideCare
#TakeOwnership
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Who inspires you? Anyone can share in celebra ng our teams – staff, pa ents, physicians and volunteers. Contact C Carly Baxter at ext. 2677, cbaxter@qhc.on.ca.
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Patient Flow team recognized for hard work and dedication to seamless care At the March 2019 Board of Directors meeting, the Board gave special acknowledgement to a team of unsung heroes who deserve recognition for the vital role they play. The patient flow team supports all four QHC hospitals in ensuring patients are discharged in a safe and timely manner with the community supports they need. The team consists of nine patient flow coordinators, two social workers and manager Lisa Hildebrand. Many of our patients have complex care needs and face social barriers that may prevent or delay their discharge. The patient flow team advocates for patients so they have what they require to safely return home or to the community. They look at what the patient needs and wants, what their family wants, what resources they have, and what community resources may be available to them. Keeping the QHC value of “Respect Everyone” in mind, they negotiate a plan that aims to honour the patient’s wishes and connect them with the supports they need to discharge safely from hospital. Manager Lisa Hildebrand explains that a big part of the patient flow role is educating families and promoting the concept of Home First. They explain to families that patients who no longer need the acute care of a hospital setting often heal better at home if they have the right support. The patient flow team then works with community partners like LHIN Home and Community Care and Health Links to help the patient and their family navigate supports that the patient may require. “The patient flow role is incredibly important to the care we provide at QHC,” explains Carol Smith Romeril, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer. “They are helping us with our quest for integrated care – they help create the seam between hospital and community for our most complex patients. We want them to know that we feel really lucky to have such a great group as part of the QHC team.”
The Patient Flow team was acknowledged by the Board of Directors at the March 26 Board Meeting for their dedication to seamless care..
QHC Vital Signs Newsletter, March 2019: Published by QHC Communications Department Editor: Carly Baxter (613) 969-7400 ext. 2677, cbaxter@qhc.on.ca.
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