Rehabilitation is a vital aspect in the recovery process after illness or injury. A service review in 2019 highlighted patients admitted to Ryde Hospital’s Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre (GRC) were staying longer and functional outcomes were less than those in comparable services within NSLHD.
A multidisciplinary team from the hospital has been working hard to reverse this.
Nurse Unit Manager GRC Alanna Brown, Senior Rehabilitation Physiotherapist GRC Sharon Fok, Nurse Manager Performance and Access Esther Ng and Acting Team Lead Occupational Therapist GRC Philippa Wilford recently completed the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Redesign with their project focused on improving GRC outcomes (iGO).
We sat down with the team to find out about their project and experience.
Tell us about your project.
The aim was to improve the outcomes and experience for inpatients at GRC.
We were able to bring four innovative initiatives to life. We focused on standardising processes like generating estimated discharge dates by using a benchmark calculator, as well as incorporating a discharge decision making tool in case conferences.
We also created a GRC team-wide orientation resource and education program with a focus on reflective practice.
Our project enabled the GRC team to win a $45,500 innovation grant to produce a patient welcome video in multiple languages.
What worked well and what did not work so well?
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our planned schedule in particular ceasing working parties and meeting schedules by approximately three months.
We faced challenges in project progression and operational changes such as our two rehabilitation wards merging. However combining two wards made changes easier to implement and reduced process variation.
It was challenging at times balancing our clinical roles with project and university coursework, but the opportunity to make meaningful change was highly motivating.
Have you achieved what you set out to?
We have improved patient experience by 14 per cent on the patient-reported experience measure, reduced average length of stay for reconditioning patients from 19 days to 13 days, and improved patient functional outcomes by 18 per cent.
The redesign methodology taught us to investigate thoroughly, better understand the problems and generate solutions that matter to GRC staff and patients.
Strong sponsorship was also key for the project. Being user-driven and involving all GRC staff and patients from the beginning has facilitated the change process and sustainability.
What feedback have you been receiving from patients?
A patient reported experience measure shows there has been a 14 per cent improvement in patient experience to 91 per cent. We anticipate the welcome video will further improve this especially for our CALD patients.
