Patients benefit from more care time
Every extra minute spent with a patient can make a world of a difference, especially for those with mental illness.
That’s why staff at Richmond Hospital’s 2 West and the Psychiatric Emergency Unit (PEU) have taken Releasing Time to Care (RT2C) so seriously. The initiative helps front line staff look at opportunities to improve systems and functioning so that they can increase the amount of direct time spent with patients.
“The more time we can spend with the patients doing teaching, learning, supporting and helping with their mental wellness, the better,” said Lisa Ramage, program manager, Acute Mental Health Services at Richmond Hospital. “And that’s why you go into nursing…you want to help people and be involved with your patients. You don’t want to spend all of your time doing documentation and paperwork.”
Reorganizing workflow
Starting last year, Releasing Time to Care leads began applying WOW (Well Organized Ward) principles to their daily work. This included reducing the use of seclusion rooms, reorganizing the supplies room and making changes to shift reports so they take less time.
On that last item alone, staff has managed to reclaim 40 minutes of direct care time per day that was otherwise spent in twice-daily meetings.
“This was about looking at how we can improve our workflows or our care environment for the patient,” Lisa explained. “We’ve now successfully done that at Richmond Hospital.”
A framework for better care
Tomasz Majek, a Releasing Time to Care regional program lead, said the initiative provides solid guidance for health care teams.
“The wonderful thing about Releasing Time to Care is it provides a framework for teams to get together and create a vision for their unit, for the client, to make things more efficient and better,” he said. “It’s a communication and continuous improvement tool that allows staff to change the culture for the better.”
Majek said that in the short year since adopting the program, 2 West and PEU and have managed to accomplish a lot.
“They’ve increased team capacity, and initiated more personal and professional development for the ward leads,” he said. “The team looked at a number of important areas and priorities from a program perspective, such as decreased seclusion room use, as well as from a practical perspective, such as completing all Mental Health Act forms in a timely fashion. This all adds up to more quality time with the patient.”