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“Sharing and Sustaining” Final Immersion Colloquium
May 8-9, 2008: Hamilton, Ontario
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Recent News
Download our Winter / Spring 2008 PIER Project Newsletter (PDF)
These are the various projects being undertaken by the coaches and champions at the three partner organizations; McMaster Family Practice, Regina Gardens, and Stonechurch Family Health Centre.
McMaster Family Practice
“Go Green, Get Fit”
MFP’s first initiative is to find strategies for making the office a more environmentally friendly place (“Go Green”) and at the same time, try to encourage staff to set a good example for each other and to the patients by sharing ideas about how to incorporate exercise/fitness into our lives in a more meaningful and effective way (“Get Fit”).
They have split into 4 different inter-professional working groups to look at areas such as
1. green bin recycling
2. paper and styrofoam recycling
3. fitness group
4. resource group (to make a resource and education board/website)
The groups will be meeting for more formal updates, but on the surface, some changes are being noticed. There appears to be more recycling bins around the clinic, and more people are bringing in re-usable coffee cups. Walking groups are active at lunch hour and key people from MFP are in negotiations with HHS to build a bike shelter for staff, to help encourage fewer cars in the parking lot (“Go Green”) and more people riding bikes to work (“Get Fit”).
“Go Green, Get Fit” Project Updates Jan 2008
McMaster Family Practice reports that the new Resource Board is up in the lunch room. It looks great and has some really useful information on it. Each month they choose a new "Fit Tip" and "Environmental Tip", as well as a "Personal Triumph" narrative from one of the staff. The goal of each section of the board is to motivate, not intimidate, people to make the changes in their lives that are important to them.
“Inter-professional Education Rounds”
In July of 2007, Doug Oliver met with the education coordinator (Jan Baxter, Nurse Practitioner), several residents and another physician colleague to introduce the idea of starting a regular rotation of Inter-professional Education Rounds at MFP. These rounds are now up and running in a monthly rotation (the 3rd Thursday of every month, from 8:30-9:30 am). The response is reported to be excellent from both residents and staff physicians, and most importantly form the social work, dietician, pharmacy and nursing colleagues, who before this initiative, had reported feeling very disconnected from the academic rounds at MFP. It has been a steep learning curve for the “medical people” in the group who have traditionally looked at a problem from a single point of view. Changing the rounds to be case-based and presented by co-workers from different disciplines has enabled creative new ways to improve patient care and enhance the ways in which the team learns and works together.
"Inter-professional Education Rounds" Update Jan 2008
Feedback regarding the Inter-professional rounds at MFP is very positive. Participants feel that with each passing month there is movement closer to the idea of true inter-professional collaboration and learning. The December talk was on the medical issues faced by female athletes and was put together by a family medicine resident, a dietician, a nurse practitioner and a social worker. There were about 30 health care providers in attendance and the feed-back from the participants was excellent, scoring an average of 4.5/5 in all presentation categories. Even more importantly, the group was engaged in a very active discussion where everyone seemed truly interested in learning from their inter-professional colleagues about how they would approach a certain problem. Other topics covered include; Caregiver Burden in Dementia (Oct), and Eating Disorders in Teens (Nov).
January topic TBA.
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Regina Gardens
“Regina Remembers”
The purpose of the project chosen by Regina Gardens, “Regina Remembers”, is to preserve the memories and to celebrate the lives of former residents who have passed away. The project enables continued support and participation of surviving relatives and friends and thus, maintains the connection established between Regina Gardens and the surviving family. The project has two components: a Garden of Memories and a Quilt of Compassion.
The Garden of Memories is a place to honour and preserve the memories of former residents. Families and friends of residents who have passed away are invited to plant perennial flowering plants or shrubs in the large garden fronting the home. A dedication and initial planting of the garden occurred on May 27, 2007. New plantings will be held annually.
The Quilt of Compassion also is intended to preserve the memories of former residents. The names of residents who have passed away will be embroidered in a quilt that will hang in the foyer of Regina Gardens. When the current embroidering is complete, the quilt will then be on display in the lobby in the late Fall.
Quilt of Compassion Update February 2008
The quilt has been completed and is now on display at Regina Gardens.
"Mock Emergency Evacuation"
For its next project, Regina Gardens will be integrating community students on a "mock emergency evacuation" to take place in the 1st week of December. Emergency fire procedures and evacuation education will occur in the facility throughout the month of November. Regina Gardens will partner with Regina Mundi elementary school to utilize the students in a role play capacity for the exercise and further evaluation to ensure staff and families are current with procedures to ensure the safety of our residents.
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Stonechurch Family Health Centre
"Cuts for Cancer at Stonechurch"
The purpose of the project chosen by Stonechurch Family Health Centre is to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society, and support their wigs for children program.
The Cuts for Cancer team organized an event which was held on August 22. At noon on that day, three volunteers, Jennifer Claremont, Joan Morris and Kate Walker had their beautiful long locks cut off to donate them to the cancer society to make wigs for children undergoing cancer treatments.
Members of the SFHC community showed their support of this event by purchasing $5.00 tickets for the BBQ held the day of the event, purchasing raffle tickets for a hair products gift basket valued at $250.00, and making donations online to the "Cuts for Cancer at Stonechurch" website through the Canadian Cancer Society.
“Orientation Project”
The orientation group consists of 26 members from diverse disciplines, who have been focusing on developing strategies to improve the orientation experience for new staff to SFHC.
Changes have been made to how and what information is communicated to new staff. Ensuring prompt access to the intranet OSCAR, receiving global and discipline specific information and e-documents, and announcing the arrival of new team members has been initiated.
Another innovative strategy being implemented at SFHC is “buddying” a new team member with a veteran team member. Contact and support is flexible, seeing the newcomer through the 1st day, 1st week and 1st month.
Staff is working together in an inter-professional manner and small changes and improvements have been noticed.
“Patient Newsletter”
Discussions are underway regarding a Phase 2 project to develop a Patient Newsletter for distribution to the SFHC patient community. Contact Dr. Christina Fugere for more information, and explore how you can be involved in this exciting project.
"Memorial Service Project"
Lead by Sue Carr, Chaplain, the SFHC established a “memorial event” to honour their clients who have passed on during the year, and to acknowledge the mark made by those people on the lives of the staff, residents and staff physicians at SFHC. Invitations to the memorial went out on the intranet, and it was well attended. The memorial is meant to be inclusive and non-denominational and to acknowledge the staff’s vulnerability when engaged in end of life care. It was held indoors, and included some reflective readings, symbolic representation (patient names on leaves, read aloud and then placed under branches on the table), and spontaneously shared memories of the person. It concluded with lunch. It is hoped to continue as an annual event.
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Upcoming Events
“Sharing and Sustaining” Final Immersion Colloquium
May 8-9, 2008: Hamilton, Ontario
Download Flyer (PDF)
This colloquium will enable you to engage in discussion of your experiences practicing and teaching interprofessional collaboration. The goal of the event is for participants to inquire into their current practice through an interactive experience and share ideas for sustainability. The Colloquium is a collaboration between the PIER Project (funded by Health Canada) and the McMaster Department of Family Medicine.
We are fortunate that several knowledgeable and engaging people have agreed to participate. These include:
• Dr. Louise Nasmith, (keynote speaker). Principal of the College of Health Disciplines at the University of British Columbia.
• Dr. Chris Mowles. Faculty, Complexity and Management Centre at the Business School of the University of Hertfordshire in the UK
• Dr. Bev Ann Murray. Senior Advisor, Health Human Resource Strategies Division, Health Canada.
Themes to be explored:
• Autonomy. “How do I make a decision on my own?”
• Identity. “I learn one thing in school and suddenly I’m asked to do things differently”
• Power. “I have no power on this team.”
• Decision-making. “If I’m the one ultimately responsible, shouldn’t I make the decision?”
• Re-casting conflict. “Is it always bad news to disagree with someone?”
• Personalizing organizations. “The Department said I had to do it this way.”
The colloquium invites the experiences of people working to further interprofessional practice, researchers and anyone who sees themselves as having a commitment to working together in health care.
Cost: Early bird $130, Regular $160. Space is limited
Download Registration Form (PDF)
Download Timeline and Accommodations (PDF)
Coach and Champion Meetings:
April 4, 2008: 11:00 - 2:00 McMaster University Club, West Room
May 16, 2008: 11:00 - 2:00 McMaster University Club, West Room
June 27, 2008: 11:00 - 2:30 McMaster University Club, West Room
Steering Committee Meetings:
April 22, 2008: 3:30-5:00 SFHC Education room B/C
June 24, 2008: 3:30-5:00 SFHC Education room B/C
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