Innovation through passion: Releasing Time to Care
The results speak for themselves
Nursing staff who are working on the Releasing Time to Care units are engaged in problem-solving and improving patient care. Evaluation of the pilot project shows less staff sick time, less wasted time hunting and gathering supplies, less interruptions and ultimately more time spent on patient care.
“It would be like Christmas if I could start Releasing Time to Care on my other unit,” says Sue Goulding, manager of 2S and ICU.
Innovation through passion, dedication and a little elbow grease
We tend to think about innovation in terms of large-scale projects like the Canada Line, medical breakthroughs or the latest mobile phone app. But the teams at Richmond and Squamish Hospitals implementing Releasing Time to CareTM are showing how innovation towards better patient care happens though the passion and dedication of a team, a shared vision a white board and some markers.
Jill Schulmeister, RN – Releasing Time to Care Richmond
What is Releasing Time to Care?
Releasing Time to CareTM is a quality improvement program designed to empower front line staff to drive changes that improve work efficiency and patient safety. VCH is piloting the program on 2S, 3S and 3N at Richmond Hospital and Squamish General Hospital.
I had the opportunity to met Jill Schulmeister, David Taylor, and Audra Leopold, three nurses who are Ward Leads at Richmond Hospital. They work with their teams to develop a shared vision for the unit, identify areas for improvement and track the team’s progress. “Releasing Time to Care grows leaders,” said David. Everyone on the unit has a chance to lead the project.
How its working on 2 South at Richmond Hospital
Jill took us up to her unit, 2 South Medicine, to see how it’s been working since they started the pilot 11 months ago. The nerve centre for the operation is the Releasing Time to Care Board, prominently displaying the unit’s vision and targets. 2 South’s vision is to have a harmonious team working in an environment where patients are cared for with dignity and respect.
Some of the areas of focus include patient falls, teamwork, basic patient care and patient communication. Jill said, “one of the keys to this approach is that staff gets to set priorities and make the changes they want to see themselves.”
White board at the patient’s bedside
It’s impressive to see how far the team has come in such a short time
They’ve saved 17 minutes in a shift by changing the way they manage medication carts. Carts that were once assigned to each nurse on a shift are now assigned to a room and turned over by one nurse for the entire unit.
They’ve improved patient communication by installing white boards at the patient’s bedside where family and patients can post questions for the staff and list their daily goals for care.
They have also developed a Patient and Family Brochure answering patients’ most common questions including meal times, TV service, parking and more, saving valuable time for staff on patient admission.
All the Releasing Time to Care Units have been actively evaluating the causes of patient falls. As a result of making a few changes like improving lighting and connecting bed alarms to a visual alert system, the number of falls has been reduced on the four units at RH and Squamish General by as much as 25%
Learn more
Read more about releasing time to care in this article written in last November’s VCH News
Contact Felicia Laing, Quality & Patient Safety project manager, for more information.