From an international to a local initiative

“What Matters to You?” Day (WMTY) started in Norway in 2014, with the simple goal of supporting meaningful conversations between patients, families, and their health care providers by asking the question, “What matters to you?” British Columbia Patient Safety and Quality Council (BCPSQC) successfully led the #WMTY17 awareness campaign and celebration on June 6, 2017 for the first time in BC this year. BCPSQC collaborated with VA Patient Safety and Quality in its introduction to Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) acute care units. VGH Medicine Units embraced this initiative and celebrated the WMTY day in various creative ways!

The action at VGH Medicine Units

To make “What Matters To You?” Day more engaging, Lillian Hung, Clinical Nurse Specialist, incorporated “Randomized Coffee Trial” (RCT) for the Hospitalist Medicine program. RCT is a well-known concept and is used to connect people in an organization – to meet over coffee and talk, just like chatting about things what matters. Lillian gave out the TEAM mug in the RCT and Maria Azur, Patient Care Coordinator on CP10, created the “selfie station” and led the #WMTY17 celebration, including a #WMTY17 cake.

Staff testimonial

Hung says “When patients and families were asked this question”What matters to you?” I saw families bursting into tears and I heard patients having a lot to say. I am intrigued by the power of the question – “What matters to you?” A daughter of the patient cried: she said “gentle care matters.” She went on and thanked the team on CP10 for their kindness and understanding. This brought us to the awareness of the high importance of emotional and psycho-social aspects of care. Staying in the hospital can be a very emotional and stressful experience for both the patient and family. A patient said, “I think it’s important to have joy, to have hope and be positive, doesn’t matter you are a patient or a nurse”

For the staff, common themes in their messages captured in selfie photographs are: Teamwork, patient safety, staff safety, being together, support, joy, friend, giving the best care, learning, safe environment, having time to get to know the person, enjoyable workplace, and compassion. See staff pictures and messages in this What Matters to You Day VGH Medicine Units PDF.

Maria voices, “The very personal way of meeting face-to-face and having meaningful conversations are what touched me the most on that day. Learning about how our patients and their families value the excellent care we provide and how it impacts their lives, is very inspiring.”

Taking time to look at trees

When asked how the Clinical Teaching Unit teams came up with their unique concept of “Tree poster” for #WMTY Day, Ali Wakerly, one of Releasing Time To Care (RT2C) Initiative Acute Medicine Unit leads, shares: “The idea for the trees and forest was from the phrase ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ and we kind of took it the opposite way. That we spend so much time looking at the forest, we forget about the individual trees.”

The poster symbolizes an integration of individual responses to the #WMTY17 question, with green trees having patient or family responses, and purple trees with staff responses. It is visibly displayed on Jim Pattison Pavilion 10th floor along the public elevators, and shared for everyone to pause, have a look and learn about what matters to patients, families and staff.

Katie Hyunh, another RT2C ward lead in the Acute Medicine Unit, voiced, “The most striking thing for me while going around talking to patients was that what we, as health care providers, deem important may not be what actually matters to the patients at all. One of the patients mentioned how our smiles can really make the day so much brighter and easier for them, and our smiling faces are what matter most to them.”

ACE Units

The Acute Care for the Elders (ACE) Unit utilized their RT2C white boards within the units to display their #WMTY17 poster. Their team openly invites patients and families to continuously add their perspectives on the poster by providing pre-cut stars on an envelope. “Getting better to be with my family” just stood out as one of the patient responses on this day.

In conclusion

Jenifer Tabamo, Clinical Nurse Specialist, voices, “What matters to you?’ Day taught us about our patients and their families in profound ways. But this day taught us even more about ourselves as health care providers… that we need to continue having these simple but powerful conversations beyond ‘What matters to you?’ day.”

For more information about the VGH Medicine Unit’s experience, please contact Lillian Hung and Jenifer Tabamo.