2010 Award Finalist

The Road to Excellence is Paved with Partnerships

Category - Improving Safety

The Problem

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is one of the newest Academic Health Sciences Centres in Ontario, and the organization wanted to be among the first to embrace the move towards patient-centred care that is gradually taking hold in health care circles. Patient-centred care is defined as "providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions". TBRHSC wanted to develop a new patient model, grounded in inter-professional team based care, that would meet that definition.

The Innovation

Over the course of a year, the organization brought about a complete culture shift in the way it does business. The model changed from one of a team of health professionals delivering services to health professionals working as a team with patients and their families. More than 850 staff and physicians attended a visioning retreat, and many more attended action planning retreats that were held. An online educational module was developed and within a month 361 staff had taken the course. In just three months, 646 were certified. Our Board of Directors, senior leadership, medical advisory committee, leaders and Patient Family Advisors participated in a Philosophy of Care celebration and signed their commitment to Patient and Family Centred Care.

The Results

TBRHSC created a corporate scorecard to assess the progress it was making. This was a survey sent randomly to the patient population, asking for ratings in areas related to patient-centred care. The overall score at the beginning of the process, at the end of the first quarter 09-10, was 70.3 percent. By the end of the second quarter, the rating had improved to 77.5 percent, surpassing the Ontario Average. The score currently sits at higher than 80 percent.

Next Steps

TBRHSC is working to develop and refresh its corporate strategy to ensure that the journey towards patient-centred care continues. Learning from its inter-professional teams, learners, patients and families, the organization will share its success stories, both internally and through presentation and publication. The plan is to not only improve as an organization, but also as an example to others, both in Ontario and abroad.