“Finest people I’ve ever worked with”
Ask Mary MacAuley, a home care nurse at the South CHC, what makes a great workplace and she’s quick to point to the caliber of her colleagues. “They’re some of the finest people I’ve ever worked with — people who you’d want to look after your own family.”
We’d like to thank Mary and all the other Vancouver staff who appear in not one, but two videos shown at Vancouver’s first All-Staff Forum of 2014. Their contributions are heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny.
Challenge, change and culture
For Dr. Vinay Dhingra at the VGH ICU, a great workplace includes a clean environment that’s safe for our patients.
The forum’s agenda was built with you in mind. Thanks to staff suggestions, we focused on workplace culture and asked ourselves — and you — these questions and more:
- In these changing and challenging times, what makes a truly great workplace?
- How do we achieve our 2014 goals (reduced admissions from the ED and fewer unneeded bed days) without compromising our shared values?
- How can we, as leaders, support you in these challenging times?
We devoted the rest of the agenda to open Q and A. We still welcome your questions, too. Email your question any day or night to: VancouverAll-StaffForum@vch.ca.
It’s not too late: watch the webcast
Family Involvement Coordinator Isabella Mori says a great workspace includes a framed pic of her “boyfriend”.
The forum’s recorded webcast (including staff videos) is available for viewing at the following links (Classic Viewer version is compatible with older browsers):
We want your feedback: survey closes February 14
Shawn Celby (left) and Sue Wagner of UBC Hospital show us their version of a great workout in The Outtakes video.
We welcome your feedback. Whether you attended the forum, plan on watching the webcast — or even registered but couldn’t attend — we want to hear from you.
Here is a link to our brief and confidential survey. Results are compiled to protect anonymity.
Please complete the survey by February 14, 2014.
Can’t wait to see the videos?
We encourage you to watch the forum webcast in full and hear what Mary Ackenhusen, Vancouver’s COO, has to say about the importance of achieving our goals without compromising our quality of care and values. But, if you just can’t wait to watch the videos featuring staff, we understand. Each video is less than five minutes in length. Enjoy.
Nozar shadloo
I will try to answer to both question in a productive and achievable way.
VCH is an organization which provides care and treatment for the public without any bias or prejudice.
To have a successful organization we have to believe in a central democratic approach. We have to trust the decision-making of our management and their philosophy, ethics and morality. On the other hand, the management should be good listeners for the rest of team. If they made a mistake, they should value the opinion of the team and acknowledge their mistake and move to improve the policy and practice. Our organization has to be person-centered and work as a multidisciplinary team. We have to believe in the power of our team. Our practice should constantly reduce the risk to patients and staff . Clinical and management supervision is in the heart of a successful team. These supervisions should be done regularly and be documented for future development and appraisal. VCH can create a team of clinical supervisors whom will provide supervision for all the staff teams from inside each unit or community within VCH. Some staff become more productive when they have supervision with someone outside their own unit. Confidentiality has to be in the heart of this supervision as long as it does not endanger the life staff and patients .Active preceptorship for new graduates for six months to create support and safe practice. Nothing is personal within the field of caring in which we work with empathy, a nonjudgmental approach and the most congruence with our patients. We should have the same regard for our colleagues. Caring is life-long learning and this opportunity should be created for our staff team to support future development. Lastly, I am a great believer in home-based treatment teams, especially in the mental health and addiction field. Home treatment teams are the gate keepers to admission to psychiatric system and addiction services. Large numbers of our clients need to be supported with medications and counseling in the community. A holistic approach in the community reduces admissions to inpatient hospitals, especially in elderly and concurrently disordered patients. I believe that one day, VCH will become the centre of excellence for all of North America. I love you my beautiful and bright VCH team. As much as I know some of you, you are the frontier to high standard practice.