2024 Agenda

Improving the quality of life and services in long-term care (LTC) homes requires a holistic approach that prioritizes both resident and workforce health.

This session will outline key strategies for improving the quality of care in LTC through standards and assessments. We will examine the current state of long-term care in Canada, discuss practical steps for enhancing the quality of life through continuous assessments, education, data-driven insights, and family engagement, and provide a roadmap for implementing these standards. Finally, we will discuss the support and resources available to help LTC homes succeed in this transformation. 

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Adopt global standards and foster a culture of continuous improvement in the quality of life and services for the aging population.
• Utilize data and insights to make evidence-based decisions and enhance care practices.
• Engage residents, families, and the workforce in decision-making to build a collaborative and supportive care, life, and work environment.

Data-informed quality improvement initiatives are vital for developing sustainable improvements in the quality of patient care that we deliver. A data-driven approach can detect trends, identify opportunities for improvement, and foster a culture for continuous improvement.  

The Ottawa Hospital is committed to improving patient outcomes by using emerging technology to advance quality improvement initiatives, enhance patient experiences, and support nursing practice.

Join in the discussion as we look at the structure of the initiative and the lessons learned.  

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Introduction to point-prevalence, how it was conceived, and how it evolved.
• The key values of the study, what was assessed, and how it drives evidence-informed decision-making.
• Some of the lessons learned, and potential next steps.

When investigating the root cause of a safety incident, it is essential to avoid discussing blame and instead engage in open and honest feedback on how the incident occurred. Ensuring staff feel safe detailing their experiences will go a long way in determining how the incident occurred and how to correct it in the future. 

This session will explore strategies for a safe learning environment, including when organizations are faced with harm that is not physical in nature (e.g., emotional, cultural, financial). We will utilize Runnymede’s Incident Decision Tree to review patient safety incidents and discuss the University Health Network’s new paradigm shift towards non-physical harm. 

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Understanding how Just Culture focuses on learning from incidents and improving systems.
• Best Practices using real-world examples deploying incident decision tree under the umbrella of Just Culture.
• Distinguish between individual and system-based accountability for better outcomes.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving to address systemic issues and prevent future incidents, including those that result in harm that is beyond the physical realm.

We will explore how Trillium Health Partners is leveraging patient and family input to enhance the quality of care and create a more people-centered healthcare system. By intertwining three key streams of patient engagement – patient experience data, patient relations, and patient and family engagement – Trillium Health Partners aims to foster a learning health system that is responsive to the needs of its community through its Language Services in service of one of the most diverse communities in Canada with over 130 languages spoken. 

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• The Importance of People-Centered Care that how patient experience can lead to improved outcomes and satisfaction.
• Leveraging Multiple Data Streams to Discover how to combine patient experience data, patient relations feedback, and patient and family engagement initiatives for a comprehensive understanding of patient needs.
• Building a Learning Health System and Learn how to use patient input to inform and improve healthcare practices and policies.
• Explore strategies for providing culturally appropriate and inclusive care in a diverse community.
• Gain insights into practical steps for integrating patient-centered principles into your healthcare organization.

Discover how “Healing Hospitals: Patient and Healthcare Communities” rapidly improved patient experience and staff engagement by integrating Quality Improvement (QI) processes and collaborative leadership. This groundbreaking initiative enhances patient satisfaction and staff engagement through real-time analytics and co-designed strategies. By treating each hospital unit as a community, results are amplified.

This process provides a roadmap to connect leadership, QI, and change management theory into a usable practice. A living project with ongoing updates, our comparative analyses across multiple sites will reveal universally impactful practices. Join us in transforming healthcare into compassionate, efficient, and patient-centered environments, driving excellence in care and engagement.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• A usable model/process to codesign a journey to improve patient experience and staff engagement together.
• An instructional guide on how to use as close to real-time analytics as possible to analyze course, adjust course, and plot next steps.
• Counter-intuitive change management learnings that will supercharge any initiative in relation to culture changes.
• A defined pathway to co-create a story and influence any healthcare community’s culture.

Download the Position Paper here.

There is a growing quality gap in Canada concerning patients’ mental health and substance abuse – please change to use. This has been especially concerning for Vancouver Coastal Health, which serves a high number of patients with mental health and substance use disorders whose only access to care is often through their emergency rooms.

The discussion will focus on identifying the challenges, understanding the factors contributing to this gap, and exploring potential solutions to improve mental health and substance use care.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Recognize the specific issues causing the quality gap in mental health and substance abuse care.
• Analyze socioeconomic and systemic factors exacerbating these issues.
• Plan and Develop strategies to improve access to care in Emergency Departments specific to mental health and substance use.
• Advocate and Engage in policy development that supports mental health and substance use services.
• Implement processes and interventions to support MHSU patients in the ED to address high rates of left without being seen, leaving against medical advice, and mortality after discharge.

This session will showcase our integrated safety event review process, highlighting the benefits of an approach rooted in continuous quality improvement principles while emphasizing the value of involving a cross-functional team and considering both patient and employee safety simultaneously.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Recognize the value of applying a continuous quality improvement lens to safety event reviews.
• Understand the benefits of integrating diverse perspectives in every review.
• Learn the key components of an integrated safety event review process and tips for successful adoption.

Measuring the effectiveness of mental healthcare has long been a complex challenge. While data-driven approaches hold immense potential, the reality is that often, measures are layered on clinicians without adequate support, leading to burnout and hindering the delivery of quality care. This session will delve into the complexities of implementing measurement-based care (MBC). By sharing real-world examples and strategies, we will learn how to overcome common hurdles and create a human-centered approach to data-driven improvement.  

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Understand how centering MBC on the patient’s experience can improve therapeutic alliances and outcomes. 
• Overcoming Implementation Barriers and learn practical strategies to address clinician concerns and resistance to MBC. 
• Discover how to leverage MBC data to inform and improve organizational practices. 
• Balancing Workload and Support and exploring strategies for implementing MBC without overwhelming clinicians. 
• Learn how to create a supportive organizational environment for MBC adoption.

This presentation will explore the development and implementation of the iHuddle Board and process, a collaborative, technology-driven quality management tool. Co-designed with diverse stakeholders, the iHuddle Board is developed focusing on strategic priorities, enhancing information sharing, standardizing quality measures, and integrating real-time data to improve patient care and staff engagement.

Key leadership approaches that drove this innovation will be discussed, along with the challenges encountered in standardizing metrics across the organization. Attendees will gain insights into how leadership and access to real time data can foster a culture of continuous improvement to enable and support high-quality patient care.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Leadership in fostering innovation and collaboration.

• Importance of standardizing quality metrics for consistent patient care.

• Real-time data integration and dissemination for enhanced decision-making.

• Value of stakeholder engagement, including patients and families.

• Scalability, flexibility and sustainability of the iHuddle Board in supporting organizational growth.

This session explores how healthcare providers can leverage the Kaizen improvement methodology and Lean principles to enhance patient flow, reduce wait times, and improve overall clinic efficiency.

This discussion will draw on real-world experiences from a year-long Kaizen initiative that implemented short test cycles, self-service kiosks, redesigned patient pathways, and a new “clinic aid” role to streamline operations.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Implement rapid testing cycles and process redesign to identify and eliminate bottlenecks in patient flow known as the Kaizen approach.
• Leverage technology and dedicated staff to improve patient check-in, rooming, and cleaning efficiency by using Kiosks and Clinic Aides.
• Apply Lean principles like just-in-time inventory management and standardized exam room design to optimize resource allocation.

This session will focus on developing and implementing quality improvement plans in hospitals and community care settings. You will learn about the key components of effective quality improvement plans, strategies for successful implementation, and methods for measuring and sustaining improvements. The aim is to enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes through systematic, continuous quality enhancement efforts.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Design comprehensive quality improvement plans tailored to specific healthcare settings.
• Implement strategies that ensure successful execution and adherence to quality improvement initiatives.
• Utilize data-driven methods to monitor progress and measure the impact of quality improvement efforts.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration among healthcare professionals.

Implementing an effective skin and wound care program is crucial for residents’ safety and well-being. Residents living in long-term care with wounds, particularly pressure injuries, experience pain and decreased quality of life. Learn how Perley Health implemented an innovative, interprofessional skin and wound program that resulted in over a 50% reduction in worsening pressure injuries.

Watch our video: https://vimeo.com/983188783

 Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Understand the components of an effective skin and wound care program.

• Discover change ideas that have the biggest impact on success and can benefit the wider healthcare system.

• Learn how to overcome common challenges in long-term care.

This presentation will explore how patient safety can be fundamentally enhanced by strategic workforce excellence. It will provide participants with a framework for aligning workforce strategies with patient safety goals, focusing on how leadership can create resilient, well-supported, and high-performing teams. Through data-driven insights, case studies, and actionable strategies, attendees will understand the crucial role of workforce excellence in reducing risks, improving patient outcomes, and building a sustainable culture of safety.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Strengthen patient safety by investing in a resilient, well-supported workforce through strategic workforce planning.
• Empower staff by fostering a culture of safety through teamwork, interdisciplinary collaboration, and open communication, making patient safety everyone’s responsibility.
• Optimize resource allocation using proactive approach to patient care, reducing errors and supporting a resilient workforce through well-designed Electronic Medical Records further enhancing safety.
• Enhance staff competency and resilience by supporting mental health, work-life balance, and continuous education, enabling a well-trained, engaged workforce to provide safer, more effective care with reduced risk of clinical errors.
• Build a safe, respectful environment that minimizes burnout and fosters a person-centered culture by addressing workplace violence and prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, creating a workforce that proud of the care excellence.