Four years ago, patient satisfaction numbers at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre were nowhere near where hospital officials wanted them to be.
Almost overnight, however, they shot upward.
The reason, says Keith Taylor, was a change in direction, a move toward a patient and family centred care model.
It’s changed the way the hospital operates, said Taylor, co-chairman of the patient family advisory council, one of 99 patient family advisors volunteering their time at the Oliver Road facility.
Patients have a say in just about every decision that’s made at the hospital, and the changes were noticed almost immediately.
In fact, Taylor said, the organization that collects patient satisfaction numbers suggested hospital officials must be manipulating the numbers.
“Within six months they called up in a panic and said something was wrong with the data,” Taylor said Thursday at a celebration marking the four-year anniversary of the change in philosophy.
Taylor said they simply didn’t believe the double digit improvements in just about every category.
“That’s never happened in North America,” Taylor said the hospital was told. “They told us they were floored.”
The hospital’s reputation continues to grow, across Canada, throughout North America and around the world.
Taylor said they’ve hosted teleconferences with other health-care facilities dying to know Thunder Bay Regional’s secret to success.
“We’ve had some pretty prestigious hospitals call us and ask for help. That’s really indicative that you’re doing something right,” Taylor said.
Bonnie Nicholas, the hospital’s patient and family centred care lead, said the change has encompassed all areas of hospital life, including hiring practices, program planning, new employee and learner training and strategic planning.
“We have changed our culture, the way we think and the way we work, in order to provide patients and families with the best possible care,” Nicholas said.
Hospital president and CEO Andree Robichaud said she’s convinced she’d never have gotten the position had she not been in favour of patient and family centred care.
It was one of the first questions she faced, and though not entirely familiar with the approach at the time, she said the benefits have been driven home since her arrival.
“I’ve seen the impact. I’ve seen people taken aback by comments made by patient family advisors and have changed their decision (as a result),” Robichaud said, adding administration is there to listen.
“Keep pushing us, keep working with our wonderful practitioners, who at the end of the day want to provide better care.”
Anyone wishing to become a patient family advisor is invited to contact Nicholas at [email protected].
