IMPLEMENTATION IN ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL, PROVIDENCE
2011.05.23
We have been working with Providence Health Care on the implementation of the Medication Reconciliation System. It is a systematic process in which healthcare professionals partner with patients to ensure an accurate and complete transfer of medication information at the interfaces of care, and it is a Required Organizational Practice set by Accreditation Canada. But how can you implement such a process in a time efficient and effective way? A hospital is a 24/7 organization with constant staff turnover, related to being a teaching hospital. We have found that face-to-face communication has proven successful to achieve desired results, but it is a very time consuming and costly method. So we have looked for a different strategy to communicate and train prior to implementation, instead of supporting afterwards. As hospital staff tends to get swamped by projects, restructuring, new guidelines or procedures, we used a process game about implementation to look for possible solutions. We concluded that more effective instruments could be used to support professionals during the process of implementation if we take into consideration what kind of information people need. Some need details, others need a bird’s eye view, others want to know technical medical improvements, and others want to know how patients benefit. With all of these diverse interests, we created a portfolio of instruments to effectively implement a systematic process within Providence Health Care.
We welcome any question you might have. Please contact Erik F. Steketee at erik@processpros.ca or call 778-899-8699.