Sprinting towards better care
What matters to me is the patient experience. As a leader, it has been my experience that 95 per cent of concerns I receive from patients are about the experiences they have had in the health care system. As healthcare providers, we give exceptional clinical care to our patients.
However, sometimes we fall short on providing exceptional experiences.
I recently had the opportunity to pilot a new process and designing change within healthcare by using a new methodology called a “SPRINT.” A team of Foothill Medical Centre Obstetrical Nurses identified that there was a wicked problem to solve around the Antepartum Unit visiting policy. This unit is for women who required admission into hospital due to medical complications that could lead to premature birth of their baby or babies. These patients can be in hospital for long periods of time; 8 to 12 weeks, leading to long periods of time where they are separated from their families and support systems.
To emphasis this point, the existing visiting policy only allowed visitors to come between 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. making this the only time that the patient could connect in person with their support systems. Now, can you imagine if your partner was at work all day and could not get to the hospital unit later in the evening; with the strict visiting rules that couple would not be able to spend any length of time together.
Going through the SPRINT process, the team was able to design a new process for visitors where we removed the restrictions, developed patient and staff education and removed all the signs that showed any type of visiting restrictions, and replaced the signs with more inclusive and engaging messaging.
The positive impact of this program design change is highlighted in the following patient story.
After the visiting policy was changed, I went to the unit and talked with patients to find out what they thought about the change. I spoke to one patient and her partner to explain the change in the visiting policy, and I was overwhelmed with their reaction. Ms. Smith (not her real name) said, "I cannot believe there were any restrictions to visiting prior to my stay, what did those women do or how did they cope? For me, I am going to be here for a least 8 weeks and it is so hard to be away from my partner and children. Remember, I do not want to be here; but understand the importance of why I am here. It is so lonely and no one really understands what my partner and I are going through. We are so scared that we may have a premature baby and what that is going to do to our family or worse yet; we may lose this baby. The worst time for me is late at night, so it is so comforting to have someone from my family stay with me. I cannot comprehend that the hospital would kick someone out when I needed them the most."
It is these realities and ask front line staff and leaders to continue to look at ways we can enhance the patient experience for every patient that comes into our care. This definitely matters to me.
What matters to me are these realities, and the need to ensure that our front line staff and leaders continue to look at ways so that we can enhance the experience of every patient that comes into our care.
