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Accreditation
Intercare Corporate Group Inc. (Intercare) is participating in an evaluation of the health care services provided by Accreditation Canada February 18 – 22, 2013. The Accreditation Surveyors have a variety of experience in health care from different regions of Canada and will be evaluating Intercare’s performance against a set of national standards of excellence. “These standards examine all aspects of health care from patient safety and ethics to staff training and partnering with the community.” Intercare is devoting significant resources to both assess and identify opportunities to continuously improve our processes in order to provide the best possible care and services to our patients and residents. Accreditation affords our staff with the ability to showcase the excellent work they do, and provides Intercare an opportunity to learn from other service providers and experts from across the country.
During the accreditation survey days you will observe the surveyors in our facilities and they may stop to speak to you about your experience with us here at Intercare. Please take the time to answer their questions as residents, patients and families are valuable members of our team. We will also be asking for consents for some of our residents/families to allow the surveyors the ability to review resident health care records so they can evaluate our processes.
Following the survey, Intercare will receive the surveyors preliminary report that outlines our strengths, identifies opportunities for improvement and the overall accreditation award. Based on the award, we will also receive an Accreditation Canada certificate that will be posted in each facility. This certificate “shows the organization cares about the patient safety and providing quality service. It means the organization was assessed by its peers, met or exceeded national standards of excellence, and continues to strive for high quality health care.”
While preparation for the accreditation is ongoing, staff at all levels participate in more focused preparation in the six months prior to the survey.
Adapted from http://www.accreditation.ca/about-us/message/
Brentwood Construction Update from Doug Bartlett Construction Manager
The new Brentwood addition is looking more like a completed building. The exterior is now relatively weather proof with most windows installed and the roofing membrane finished. Installation of the exterior finishes is scheduled to begin mid to late January. The basement interior walls are built and the mechanical and electrical systems are complete. Drywalling has begun and installation of the kitchen equipment is scheduled to begin in February.
The first floor is being drywalled and the interior finishes are scheduled to begin in early February. Corridor and stairwell connections to Phase 1 are well underway. The second floor drywalling has just begun and the interior finishes are scheduled to begin about mid February. Corridor and stairwell connections to Phase 1 are underway. The third floor interior walls are built, the mechanical and electrical systems are almost finished, Drywall is scheduled to begin about late January and the interior finishes are scheduled to begin about late February. The fourth floor interior walls are built and the mechanical and electrical systems are partially complete.
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Intercare’s Five Key Priority Areas:
1. Resident Intake
The Welcoming Coordinators are now in place at Brentwood, Chinook and Southwood Care Centres. They are assisting the difficult transition that new residents and families experience when admitted to long term care. They provide information during tours, answer questions on admission and assist the resident and family to connect with the appropriate staff members in the facility to get their needs met. They have daily contact with the resident for the first week and continue to make regular visits in the weeks that follow. Due to the design of the position they have the flexibility to be able to promptly address questions and concerns of residents and families when front line staff often don’t have the time immediately available due to competing priorities. We have received positive feedback from many families indicating the Welcoming Coordinator indeed made them feel welcomed in the facility and has assisted them to make the difficult transition into long term care.
2. Resident Hydration
Staff at all sites have incorporated hydration in their daily practice and it is going very well. Staff have reported that the residents look forward to the delivery of fluids in the afternoon and evening. We are also trialing a lemon flavored thickened water to increase the fluid intake for residents who can not drink normal fluids. To date we have experienced a decrease in overall urinary tract infections as a result of the program. We will continue to monitor to ensure that this trend continues. After Accreditation we will be sending out a survey to residents and families to determine their satisfaction with the new program.
3. Delivery of Resident Care
The implementation of the new Unit Manager positions has been well received by the sites and we have received positive feedback from the families. The Corporate auditing of the high risk standards is ongoing and improvement has been documented in all areas. The ongoing challenge to meeting some of these standards is the completion of the consents required when the resident is requesting two side rails or requires anti-psychotic medication. We are requiring facilities to review and update these consents annually and appreciate resident and family support and understanding in this area.
4. Customer Service
Intercare’s Senior Leadership Team has recognized that a focus on providing quality, customer service should, and must be, reflected in all of the services we provide to our residents, families, visitors and staff. Towards ensuring this, a Customer Service Team was established last year with representatives from senior leadership and front line staff from all of Intercare’s four sites and various departments, including nursing, residential services, therapies, education, social work, and the Union. The Committee, along with feedback from all Intercare staff, brought forward to Intercare’s Senior Leadership & Ownership group recommendations to revise our Organization’s Mission, Vision and Purpose, as well as adding a fifth Core Value – all which reflected the importance of ‘service’ in our culture. This was well received and the addition implemented. After months of extensive review, education and planning, a well defined Five-Phased tool has been developed with a scheduled rollout of Phase I commencing in early 2013. We believe that our increased focus and understanding of customer service will only enhance the lives of our residents and their families, our staff and all visitors to our organization.
5. Environmental Improvements
Intercare is currently in the process of installing the wiring required to support the Point of Care (POC) documentation terminals that will be used by all staff in our move towards an expanded electronic health record. After Accreditation we will be focusing on planning and implementing the education component, with a pilot unit which has not been identified yet. After the process has been fine tuned it will be rolled out to all sites.
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