10
Growing Healthier - Together - How Quinte Health Care enhanced their patient care services by designing a Blended E-Learning Program and implementing a Collaborative Online Policy & Procedure System

Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

  • Upload
    joffee

  • View
    190

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Using online tools to further enhance a patient care driven medical organization

Citation preview

Page 1: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

Growing Healthier - Together

- How Quinte Health Care enhanced

their patient care services by designing

a Blended E-Learning Programand implementing a Collaborative OnlinePolicy & Procedure System

Page 2: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

A United Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The Backbone of the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Nerve Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Training Data Lifecycle Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Quality Assurance = Quality Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Preventative Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Close to Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Page 3: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

Introduction

The successful modern healthcare organization employs an innovativeand creative strategic direction with one goal in mind - to raise patientcentred care to the highest level. This new model of healthcare mustbegin in the boardroom to ultimately show up where it should, right atthe patient’s bedside. To achieve true excellence in providing modernhealthcare services that meets the increasingly complex requirements ofour communities, it is critical that every facet of a healthcare organizationalways stays focused on doing what’s in the patient’s best interest.

Quinte Health Care’s (QHC) mission, vision and core values are all centred on providing their patients withan exceptional experience of care. To produce this outcome for the people and communities they serve, QHChas placed an equal emphasis on quality and safety throughout all facets of their multiple facility operations.

Quinte Health Care is one hospital with 4 sites including QHC Belleville General, QHC North Hastings,QHC Prince Edward County Memorial and QHC Trenton Memorial. Their 1600 dedicated staff members,along with the 280 doctors who have privileges, provide primary and secondary care to a diverse area madeup of the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and the southeast portion of Northumberland County. QHChas 250 inpatient beds, which include acute care, mental health, rehabilitation, complex continuing care,maternity and pediatric. In addition, there are 4 active Emergency units, Surgical operating rooms at 3 sites,a Rehabilitation Day hospital, a Children’s Treatment Centre, Diabetes Education Centres and a full scope ofAmbulatory Care clinics.

Serving such a diverse rural and urban population spread across far ranging geographical areas with a menuof varied services is no easy undertaking, and yet QHC has never failed to excel in providing their patientswith state-of-the-art clinical science tools and resources, delivered within a cohesive organizational structureand process designed to create a patient centred care environment.

Consequently, when QHC identified two very different operational areas within their organization theywished to enhance to further enable their caregivers to continue to deliver the best care to their patients,they choose to partner with Clarity.ca (Clarity). Clarity’s expertise in developing unique, proprietary softwaresolutions and their significant experience within the medical community, combined with their client centredcare approach to every project they undertake, proved to be a natural fit with QHC’s project goals and workphilosophy.

3

Page 4: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

A United Purpose

Some might ask what the implementation of a blended e-learning programand a collaborative online policy and procedure system have in commonto QHC’s mandate to create a patient centred care organization. Theanswer is that both of these program solutions heighten QHC’s abilityto enhance personnel and organizational performance within criticalareas of operation that directly affects their patients’ treatment andcare experience.

By improving individual performance and expertise through excellence in the delivery of continuing educationand training for their staff and by providing an efficient way of establishing, maintaining and disseminatingup-to-date operational guidelines simultaneously to all of their healthcare facilities, QHC is once again ensuring that every facet of their organization is actively working toward the same goal - to provide safe and quality patient care.

Starting with the design of a new e-learning program, QHC brought a series of well-defined final programperformance requirements to Clarity’s team of experts. QHC’s Project Manager, Ms. Judi Gilbert (EducationConsultant) spear-headed this ambitious project with accountability for developing critical project goals andobjectives with responsibility for managing and overseeing their successful completion and implementation.Foremost amongst those goals was QHC's recognition that an e-Learning program would significantlyenhance their ability to meet the learning/training needs of both their clinical and non-clinical personnel aswell as important role continuing education plays in the recruitment and retention of staff.

Supporting Ms. Gilbert throughout the vital rollout phase of this project was Mr. Dave Allsopp (Desktop Analyst,Information Systems). Mr. Allsopp worked closely with the Education Services Department and Ms. Gilbert,providing invaluable expertise in the areas of pre-program implementation and was instrumental in the successful final implementation of QHC's new blended e-learning program. Mr. Allsopp also continues to actas the primary liaison to QHC's personnel as they learn how to navigate and use their new learning toolset.

Working closely with QHC’s team of content and technical specialists, Clarity successfully analyzed and identified the exacting details of each educational program component currently in use, the new learningcomponents desired and the ideal measurement and tracking process QHC wished to implement. This vitalfront-end analysis process enabled Clarity to create a customized e-learning program plan designed to meetall of QHC’s educational and system goals.

4

Page 5: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

A United Purpose

The Backbone of the System

A key component to the successful creation and implementation of any learning management system (LMS)is the content management system (CMS). Clarity's unique, proprietary CMS (CCM.Net) is designed to fullysupport the multi-faceted requirements of their clients program design needs. The CCM.Net is an intuitivecontent creation toolset that enables non-technical users to author, publish and rapidly deploy media-richcontent without IT assistance. 100% web based and requiring no plug-ins or downloads, the CCM.Net useslimited computer processing power and is multi-browser compatible with the ability to operate on eitherInternet Explorer (6.0 or higher) or Firefox (2.0 or higher).

The Nerve Centre

E-learning is ideal for an organization as large as QHC, enabling them to provide customized, flexible, safeand cost efficient online learning solutions that can respond to the rapidly evolving medical industry in a waythat traditional learning delivery cannot. Working with Clarity’s proprietary LMS, entitled LiMe (learninginformation management environment) provided the system solution QHC was seeking. LiMe is an e-learninginfrastructure designed to create, manage, track, deliver and assess all aspects of an organization’s educationalprogram including both online and traditional delivery components, built on and fully supported by Clarity’scontent management system (CCM.Net).

Utilizing LiMe, Clarity successfully integrated QHC’s traditional/existing training methodologies (i.e., powerpoint, hardcopy support materials, video and teleconferences, video presentation, classroom training, etc.)and incorporated new and highly accessible online learning elements (i.e., virtual classes, self-paced webinstruction, online course catalogues, etc.) to seamlessly create a cohesive and comprehensive e-learningsolution for their entire organization.

Additional e-learning program specifications Clarity incorporated for QHC include providing managementwith the means to monitor course status and waiting list details, to group learners according to demographicunits (i.e., Nursing), the capability to review, approve and reject learner requests relative to course enrollmentand/or participation in external learning events and the ability to manage student pre and post testing activities.

5

Page 6: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

A United Purpose

Training Data Lifecycle Management

Developing a truly effective e-learning solution should also include:

• The ability to collect, analyze, process and save the ever-changing data and program completion resultsaccurately to meet both the regulatory and occupational compliance reporting requirements of theindustry and organization;

• The capability for managers to gather and produce customized performance results on an individualand/or departmental/occupational group basis; and

• A method to easily access personal information (allowing for user profile self-maintenance) and coursecompletion results by the learner to encourage professional and personal growth.

LiMe was designed to perform all of these functions with an emphasis on creating a highly intuitiveuser interface, as well as facilitating additional management information reporting needs for QHCsuch as:

• Daily and monthly compliance reporting tailored to comply with the specific and differing performancestandards of each facility site;

• Measurement and tracking of different e-learning sessions;

• Periodic (scalable) system usage reporting; and

• Compilation of accurate cost data by service or cost element.

6

Page 7: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

A United Purpose

Quality Assurance = Quality Care

Effective Quality Assurance (QA) in the medical industry is rooted in the organizational work ethic of ahealthcare facility or organization. Defining and implementing high QA standards and systems has proven tohave a significant, positive impact on all areas of a healthcare organization and patient care.

As integral to the QA process as providing continuing education and training, is the responsibility of thehealthcare organization to clearly define, communicate and efficiently disseminate the enterprise’s writtenpolicies and procedures to its personnel. These corporate directives should be designed to provide both guidance and support of employing a QA based patient care philosophy, and as such, requires the input andexpertise of not only Executive Management Team, but of the specialists and caregivers within the variousunits/areas throughout the medical facility.

Typically, this has been a time consuming, challenging process for those in charge of facilitating organizationalQA policies and procedures, requiring them to manage and coordinate the exchange of confidential databetween multiple areas/facilities within an organization without comprising the control and security of thisinformation.

Preventative Measures

As any healthcare professional will attest, the best approach to good health is to establish and maintain a daily routine/regiment that strengthens our body, inside and out, to promote wellness and help preventnegative health conditions from occurring. The same philosophy is true when it comes to establishing andmaintaining a consistent set of organizational guidelines (policies and procedures) created to ensure everyunit/facility works in the most efficient, accountable and caring manner possible to help prevent negativeoperational or performance issues from occurring.

One of the many ways QHC has embraced this initiative to quality is by continuing to enhance their organizational system infrastructure. Part of those efforts included continuing work with Clarity on a two-phased project that involved the customization and implementation of Clarity’s proprietary CMS platform for both their internet and intranet sites and the implementation of Clarity’s COPPS program.

7

Page 8: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

A United Purpose

In the first phase of this project, partnering with QHC's Project Manager, Mr. Dave Allsopp (Desktop Analyst,Information Systems), Clarity developed a customized CCM.Net template to provide QHC with a uniform platform to manage the media rich content, toolset, application and reporting requirements of a sizable anddiverse user group for both their internet and intranet sites. One of the many benefits of Clarity’s CCM.Net isthat there is no system-level installation of software, ensuring that the client doesn't have to dedicate muchtime or resources to server maintenance since there is no software to crash, no chance of memory leaks orother issues that usually surround software installations. Additionally, because the CCM.Net application runson the Windows Server, it provides exceptional uptime performance with a track record of over 99.9% uptimefor all of Clarity's previous CMS implementations.

Once the CCM.Net was fully operational on both QHC’s external and internal sites, the second phase of thisproject began with Clarity implementing COPPS on QHC’s intranet. COPPS is a revolutionary new online toolClarity specifically designed for the medical industry that enables authors to create, import, track and storepolicy documents in an easy to use, easy to learn policy portal that ensures a controlled and documentedmethodology of releasing policies and tracking changes and updates.

The first stage of this project phase was to install the COPPS program on QHC’s intranet and create a policiesand procedures portal. The next step saw the import and conversion of QHC's existing (current, historicaland archived) policies and procedures to the newly installed CCM.Net platform. Once the conversion processwas complete, Clarity's team of experts worked with QHC's project team to create the graphic layout anddesign features for their customized program templates.

Full COPPS program implementation was thenpossible with Clarity’s specialized team of instructors at hand to train QHC’s QA personnelin how to use and get the most out of this newonline methodology for authoring, publishingand updating their medical policies and procedures tailored to meet the unique needs of their organizational and operational structure.

8

Page 9: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

Close to Home

Just as QHC strives to ensure that the patients they serve have access tothe finest equipment, treatment tools and technology available balancedwith compassionate, quality and safe care services; QHC is equally dedicated to ensuring that they provide their personnel with everyoperational and professional advantage and tool available to maketheir roles as caregivers as rewarding and straightforward as possible.

Partnering with Clarity on both of these projects has resulted in the implementation of two highly successfulprojects with very positive results that met all project timeline, budgeting and performance expectations.

General user feedback has emphasized how easy the new toolsets are to use, including users who have hadlimited exposure to navigating and working with computers. From an organizational standpoint, QHC hasenjoyed Clarity’s enthusiasm and commitment to taking the necessary time to really understand and respondaccordingly to QHC’s exacting program performance requirements, as well as the open channels of communication between both organizations that Clarity established and has maintained throughout everyfacet of both project endeavors. Additionally, QHC has found a willing and eager technical support partnerwith Clarity who continues to provide any ongoing system support services that they require.

9

QHC has benefited from the new e-learning tool in many ways. Although thelearning curve for some staff has been greater than for others overall it hasenhanced our training/continuing education capabilities and has created asimple tracking system for mandatory education. The new tool has streamlinedregistration and given everyone at each of our four sites the same opportunitiesto access courses and education material and register for desired courses.The education department, with the implementation of the tool, is in a farbetter position to monitor registration, track participants and plan futurecourses based on the historical data the system provides. I have recommendedthis software to other organizations not only for what the system has tooffer but also for what the people of Clarity offer. From our first meetingeveryone involved with this project has been very helpful and accommodating,and above all very professional.”Judi Gilbert, Education ConsultantQuinte Healthcare Corporation

Page 10: Collaborative Online Policies & Procedures Program & Blended E-Learning

Conclusion

QHC’s organizational vision is to help create healthy communities withaccessible health care through partnership and innovation. Their visionis made manifest through their strategic mission to provide qualityhealth care as close to home as possible, to offer health education tohealth professionals and the public and to proactively advocate for thecritical resources they need to meet the needs of the patients and communities they are here to serve.

At the end of the day, the real challenge for any conscientious and caring healthcare facility/organization likeQHC is to find new ways and methods of improving productivity to enhance patient care. QHC’s obviouscommitment to doing just that is evident in this project as well as many other notable organizational initiativesthey have chosen to implement. Clarity is honored to have been a part of QHC’s ongoing process to helpfind innovative ways to improve the lives of their patients and the communities they care for.

Whether it’s providing expert consulting, application development, application integration, creative design,employee training and/or intranet development services - our impressive team of experienced multi-disciplinedprofessionals enables us to ensure that our clients are presented with only the most effective and cost efficientsolutions available to support and achieve their unique organizational and customer service goals.

To explore what innovative solutions Clarity can provide your organization with or to request more information,please call: 403.705.5900 or select request form. To learn more about Quinte Health Care, please selectwww.qhc.on.ca.

10

Please contact us for more information or to set up an online demonstration:

Rob [email protected]

Susan [email protected]