Participant, Rapid Process Improvement Workshop: Improving the Patient and Family Experience

Transitioning from one area of care to the next is often a delicate time impacted by many factors. Please bring the patient perspective into an upcoming workshop aimed at improving patient transitions from acute care to the next step in the patient’s journey.

Open to: Patient partners from Kamloops Area who access Royal Inland Hospital

Lead Organization or Department

Interior Health - Quality, Risk & Accreditation

Aim

The role of the patient partner is to advise on the process improvements proposed by the group during the five day workshop. The overall goal is to review and improve the process of transition from an acute phase of care to the next step in the patient journey.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the research partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility

• Experience transitioning from acute care to community care or out of the hodpital as a patient or family member.
• Comfortable sharing your experience and perspective with a small group of health care providers.
• If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

Vacancies: 2 Option A: Full Participation

• Royal Inland Hospital
• May 14 - 18
• 0800 - 1600 Mon to Thurs
• 0800 - 1300 Fri

Option B: Partial Participation

• Royal Inland Hospital
• May 14 and 15
• 0800-1600

Reimbursement

Pre-approved mileage and parking expenses will be provided as required

Background

During a Rapid Process Improvement Workshop, representatives from all parties that touch a process come together for an intensive, highly structured week of process observation, process mapping, and eliminating waste to ultimately create a future state. Through rapid cycle change, participants trial potential solutions to move toward this future state and reach their aim. Our institution identified a higher than acceptable blood culture contamination rate, which created excess work for the microbiology lab and exposed patients to unnecessary antibiotics and bed days. The RPIW implemented standard procedure for blood culture draws, leading to reduction of the blood contamination rate by over 100%, which is now even lower than the national standard. By identifying waste in the microbiology process, hundreds of work hours were also saved. The macro discharge RPIW aimed to more efficiently have the right patient in the right bed at the right time. The group identified that a small patient population with specialized needs accounted for the bulk of excess bed days. Through the creation of an Advance Disposition Team which meets weekly, these challenging cases are proactively identified. To date, 13 patients have been placed in contract nursing facilities, saving an estimated >100 acute inpatient medicine bed days. The micro discharge RPIW focused on increasing morning discharges to reduce the number of patients waiting excessive hours in the emergency department, and also create beds for direct admissions and transfers to improve continuity of care within the VA system. By creating shared communication tools regarding each patient’s discharge plan, the various members of the multidisciplinary team can now prioritize workflow to expedite discharges. This RPIW will involve Frontline staff, managers, directors and patient partners with a focus on continuing the improvements surrounding transitions from acute care to community care.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jacquelyne Foidart
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Thompson Cariboo Kootenays
250.879.1077
jfoidart@bcpsqc.ca