| Residents First: Advancing Quality in Ontario's Long Term Care Homes September 2010- Concerned Friends is an active partner in the Ontario Health Quality Councils' (OHQC) Residents First: Advancing Quality in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes initiative. This initiative is described as one of the most comprehensive and innovative quality improvement (QI) initiatives in Canada . It is a provincial initiative that supports long-term care homes in Ontario in providing an environment for their residents that enhances their quality of life. This initiative is partnership driven and supported by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) lead the implementation at the local level, and the Ontario Health Quality Council facilitates staff training for quality improvement in the participating homes. The initiative is planned to last for four more years. The first year has just been competed. In the first year, 122 long-term care homes in four LHINs across the province volunteered for training in quality improvement and to focus on quality improvement projects in particular areas. (The aim was to have 100 homes.) The focus areas are: falls, incontinence, pressure ulcers, consistency of staff assignment and reducing transfers to emergency departments. In the training sessions staff learned to use quality improvement tools and the process used to achieve improvement in the areas they have chosen for focus. The process involves setting targets for improvement in an area of focus, tracking improvement and making any changes in observation and care as they proceed. Participating homes have been able to report positive progress toward the targets that they set, for example, reducing falls. Some rather dramatic reductions have been seen, which has resulted in satisfaction and encouragement not only for staff, but for residents and their families. The OHQC plan is to have all long-term care homes in Ontario involved in Residents First. At this point, the aim is to have approximately 300 homes participate voluntarily in year two of the initiative, and to have the involvement of 11 LHINs. It now seems that these numbers could even be exceeded as interest in Residents First expands. A key instrument for the initiative is to have the resident's voice for staff awareness and training. A slide presentation, Resident Voice Part 1, is in the final stage of development. In this presentation, residents or a family member are heard describing their experience with visits to emergency departments, falls, incontinence, pressure ulcers, and consistency of staff assignment. They then tell what they think is important for staff to know about this experience. Concerned Friends was involved in preparing this presentation, and is now involved in the development of the Resident Voice Part 2. This presentation has five residents and a family member describing quality of life at the end of life. More information on Residents First is available on the Ontario Health Quality Council website at www.ohqc.ca. |