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Last updated: December, 2010
Background:
In September 2008, a delegation of 19 health system leaders travelled to England to learn more about a relatively new and promising initiative called Releasing Time to Care: The Productive Ward™© (RTC). The delegation included members of the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association, Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, Saskatchewan Health Regions, and the Minister of Health.
The Releasing Time to Care program was first tested in Saskatchewan in January of 2009. With this successful testing completed, the Cypress Health Region’s Medical/Surgical Unit successfully applied to become one of twelve context testing sites in the province. Currently, this program continues to spread throughout the province with additional sites beginning the program each quarter. In addition, the program is being tested in two Long Term Care facilities beginning in September 2010.
What is Releasing Time to Care?:
RTC is a patient-centred approach to improving the quality of care on acute care nursing units. The initiative focuses on freeing up caregivers’ time for more direct patient care. The hospital staff works in teams to complete a box set of 11 modules including:
Nurses and other care providers often spend valuable time away from the patient looking for items, searching for information about patients and their plan of care, duplicating charting, and dealing with numerous interruptions. RTC helps care teams identify where they are spending time on activities that do not add value for patients and provides guidance on how to test and implement changes to improve effectiveness and efficiency of care.
Who is involved in Releasing Time to Care?:
Everyone who is involved in providing care or services at the unit level is involved in Releasing Time to Care – nursing staff, care assistants, pharmacists, therapists, physicians, housekeeping staff, maintenance workers, and food services staff – has an important role to play in implementing RTC. New teams will be formed to complete each of the above modules.
Releasing Time to Care in Cypress:
In visiting a Releasing Time to Care unit, visitors will see a Knowing How We Are Doing bulletin board in public view offering information on each team’s challenges and successes. This may include the number of falls occurring on the unit, results of patient experience surveys, results of staff wellness surveys, and the percent of time spent offering direct care to patients.
Visitors may also notice staff wearing devices called Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs (pictured) to log tasks being completed, count numbers of interruptions, and to calculate the total percentage of time spent with patients.
Video cameras and pedometers to count staff steps are also a regular site on this unit, as staff complete tests of change in relocating equipment and changing delivery routes. The goal of this work is to increase efficiency, decrease staff steps, and to be able to spend more time with the patients and their family members.
A brochure has been developed by the Cypress Health Region for Releasing Time to Care. Click here to view the brochure (.pdf)
Releasing Time to Care Teams in Cypress:
Medical/Surgical Unit – Cypress Regional Hospital
Since being accepted by the Health Quality Council as a RTC Pilot site in September of 2009, many staff members throughout the Cypress Regional Hospital have worked hard to make improvements on the Medical/Surgical Unit. Their focuses have been:
Click on any of the following links to read in-depth information about each individual Medical/Surgical RTC team:
Women & Children's Health Services Unit – Cypress Regional Hospital
The Women & Children’s unit at the Cypress Regional Hospital began their Releasing Time to Care journey in September of 2010 by attending a provincial training webinar and one day RTC training session.
Since beginning their journey, many staff members throughout the Cypress Regional Hospital have worked hard to make improvements on the Women & Children's unit. Their focuses have been:
Click on any of the following links to read in-depth information about each individual Women & Children's RTC team:
