Sun Country Health Region hosted a staff workshop in Estevan recently to highlight the regional improvements in care and service delivery and to give staff new tools for the job. About 150 staff members attended.
"Quality improvement happens when we partner with patients and families to provide care and service," says Marga Cugnet, Interim CEO for the Region.
"It's about improving patient safety and helping patients to be more satisfied with their health care experience."
"We held this workshop to celebrate work that is being done in the Region to create safer, more engaging and efficient work environments and better patient outcomes," said Mrs. Cugnet.
Local initiatives highlighted included fall prevention initiatives in long term care, acute care and home care, and improving access to primary health care by SCHR staff.
Releasing Time to Care (RTC) is a prime example of a quality improvement initiative being carried out by many staff members in Sun Country Health Region.
RTC helps departments redesign their workplace and work flow to allow more nursing time with the patient/client/residents. Eight teams are involved in RTC in the Region, with measurable benefits to customers.
Reorganization is also being used by many programs in the Region to reduce wait lists and make it possible for patients/clients to receive service from a health provider more quickly.
"Health care is following the example set by the airline industry some years ago when they adopted new quality improvement programs to ensure travel is safe," says Mrs. Cugnet.
"Like the airline industry, we take people's lives in our hands every day so we want to ensure we are educating our staff and reviewing our processes on a regular basis to improve patient safety."
One of the speakers at the workshop was Dr. Michel Tetreault, President/CEO of St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg.
Three years ago, that facility adopted a zero tolerance approach to harm among patients. Evidence before the program began showed that one of every eight patients experienced some level of harm from the health care system, about the same as all other hospitals in Winnipeg. He told SCHR staff the risk level has been reduced but it is not yet at zero.
"We can learn from people who are deeper into the new way of working," says Mrs. Cugnet.
This symposium was a first for the Region. It featured video presentations from all over the Region. Maryfield won the CQI Showcase Award, which celebrated improvements in community development.
