Submitted by: Sandy Strelioff, patient services manager, Surgical Suite & Surgical Clinic, UBCH
Nobody knows a unit like the people who work on it. That’s why suggestions from staff, offered through a Lean-inspired improvement opportunities board, have proven so successful in PACU at the University of BC Hospital.
The board was put up last winter by previous manager Janet Lowe. “Staff just embraced it,” explains Recovery Room Patient Care Coordinator Jan Patenaude. “One person takes ownership of each suggestion, then the group looks at the problem and comes up with potential solutions.”
Each suggestion has to indicate whether it will impact safety, quality, cost or people, and is analysed according to Lean’s Pick Chart for its relative impact and ease or difficulty of implementation. The numerous postings under “Celebrations” attest to the method’s success.
Critical Care RNs (l to r) Vanessa Matthews, Christine McGlynn and Chuen Hai Lieu agree that the improvement opportunities board has benefitted PACU.
Patients benefit, too, adds RN Vanessa Matthews. With all the construction going on around the UBCH, it’s difficult for families to find places to park at all, let alone close enough to pick up discharged patients.“Now families can call us at the number on a card we give them, and not need to park at all when they’re picking up someone,” she explains. “It works through teamwork with the perioperative assistants.”
RNs (l to r) Jocelyn McCord and Margaret Davis at the OR board.
OR gets onboard
The OR has found ways to save money on supplies, and to improve both safety and communication between patients and staff by using whiteboards for each patient.
The system results in “smart, creative ideas, that only people who work here would think of,” says Chris McGlynn.
And because staff incorporate those changes into what they do every day, both staff and patients benefit.
Learn more about other QI initiatives and Vancouver Accreditation
“It’s what we do every day” is the theme adopted for the Vancouver Community of Care’s 2012 Accreditation preparations, which are essentially our ongoing quality improvement. Find out more about Accreditation and other QI initiatives on the Accreditation Vancouver pages on the intranet.