Over the last year we've done a fantastic job
with some very focused initiatives to improve
patient flow through the organization as well as looking at timely access
to care and ensuring that the patients are getting the care in the
right place
by the right care providers.
Patients don't want to be here any longer than they need to be.
And so, through a lot of efficiency
efforts we decreased our average length of stay and that creates capacity, that
creates
extra bed days and allows us to get patients out of the Emergency Department
earlier
and it actually creates space in which we can
care for patients.
I'd love see the patients being able to get seen in a timely manner,
to get to their bed when they need, to get access to their tests when they need to
because at some point we're all patients and nobody likes to wait.
In an Emergency Department nobody likes to be in the hospital they want to be home
right.
So getting them through the system as quickly as possible, getting them looked
after
I think that's what it's all really about, it really is about our patients.
Daily goal rounds I think are fantastic.
They've really, I think, empowered nurses to be very, very
active parts of the team. They know their patients,
I think, so much better. They come to the meetings with
all of their issues, with all their information about their patient, with all
their questions that they have, with
what they need to accomplish during the day and then the team goes about to
try and get that work done.
I think the nursing staff for the first time
in a very long time, have been asked to now present their patient. So they
really, to present their patient, they really need to get to know their patient.
And it really gave them the opportunity to interact and collaboratively work
with the
allied team which didn't happen before.
So it certainly helped us in terms
of making us a little bit more efficient,
in terms of really honing in what's important right,
in terms of discussing the plan of care for the patient and what some the
barriers are to care.
The escalation protocol of the hospital and the adoption of it has probably been one of
the major impacts of the access to care initiatives.
It basically means that if there is a threshold
of patients that are admitted in the department,
then any additional patients that are admitted
the original patients go upstairs to the ward. I think the escalation protocol also
takes medical and surgical patients in the department and moves them to medical and
surgical wards upstairs,
where they get the right care from the right people trained in
looking after those illnesses.
Patient flow and bed control have seen a marked improvement in the heightened awareness through the use of the escalation protocol.
All disciplines throughout the organization understand
what they need to do to be able to provide access to care for inpatients
which may be from the ED also from ICU
and also from the clinics within our organization.
I think the staff have really embraced the philosophy of access to care,
having the right patient, in the right place and being cared for by the right
provider.
And when we think about the patient journey, coming in through the Emergency
Department, on the inpatient units
and then being discharged to the community.
It's really a system approach to helping the patient
move through their journey in the healthcare system.
I'm very excited about our results. We've had some
tremendous results over the last year and we should all be very proud of them.
You know this is a really remarkable accomplishment. This is not a simple
thing to do.
In spite of increasing volumes, our team has pulled together
and increased their efficiency and decreased wait times for patients.
And it's is a multi-faceted strategy, took a ton of work
and we've had some real positive results. To everyone in the hospital that's pitched in
on this
thank you so much for your efforts.