Previous Profiles

Northern Health

Northern Health is the largest BC Health Authority by land mass stretching over 600,000 km has a population of approximately 300,000.Within Northern Health, there are over two dozen acute care facilities, 14 long term care facilities, public health units, and offices providing specialized services. The North has the highest projected growth rate of seniors in BC, with a 48% projected increase by 2010. Thirteen percent of the population is Aboriginal, the highest proportion in the province.

Northern Health faces unique challenges with the widespread geography of the region and low density of population. Northern Health is working to improve quality of care through several different areas including:

 

 

Successes in Primary Care

Northern Health has been a leader in the province in the area of primary care. Over the past several years, there have been several successful initiatives aimed at improving the quality of care for residents in the north. These include:

  • High engagement in the Practice Support Program (60% of all NHA physicians participate) – an innovative program for BC physicians and their clinical staff to support implementation of improvement changes in their practices – particularly in the area of mental health.
  • Group Medical Appointments – care and education are provided in a group setting, which is efficient not only for the medical practice, but it also offers patient with chronic conditions the opportunity to learn from and share experiences with others. From April 1, 2009 – August 31, 2009 there were 158 Group Medical Appointments (GMA) in 16 communities in Northern Health. Four different populations include diabetes, pre-natal, men’s and women’s wellness, asthma / COPD, heterogeneous, populations at high risk with H1N1, metabolic syndrome, depression, and smoking cessation. (source: Impact BC).
  • Using GMA in one practice, the 3rd next available appointment improved from 12 days to 0 days.

A recent evaluation of primary care activities in the north revealed for the majority of communities the following:

  • Positive relationships;
  • Improved coordination and access to services;
  • Improved cultural safety of care delivered;
  • Better than average test completion rates and target health status measures for diabetes than the neighboring non-First Nations community; and
  • Implementation of multiple elements of the expanded chronic care model.

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The BC Patient Safety & Learning System

Northern Health joined the BC Patient Safety & Learning System (BC PSLS) in February 2009 and their first site at Fort St. John went live in May. The BC PSLS is a web-based safety event reporting tool that is currently being implemented across BC. The BC PSLS will benefit patients by providing healthcare staff with tools to analyze trends and current practices toward developing strategies to improve patient safety and quality of care at BC healthcare facilities. Northern Health forms an integral part of this project, which is the first of its kind in Canada. After the initial launch at Fort St. John, Northern Health continued with staged implementations across the region. The largest facility, Prince George Regional Hospital, went live in September.

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Maternity Ward Patient Safety Program for Northern Health: Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently (MOREOB)

In January 2006 Northern Health began the 3-year implementation of the Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently (MOREOB) program. The MOREOB program is a comprehensive, patient safety, professional development, and performance improvement program for caregivers and administrators in hospital obstetrics units. The Program structure is based on the proven principles of High Reliability Organizations (HRO’s) including: safety as the priority, effective communication, teamwork, decreased hierarchy in emergencies, practice for emergencies, and reflective learning.

Dr. Roberto Leon leading the discussion, from closest to Dr. Leon is Dr. Auton St. Rose, Dr. Kerry Closson, Dr. Peter O’Malley and Dr. Phil Asquith.

Over the past four years, health care providers and administrators working in obstetrics have come together as a cohesive team with a shared passion and goal for putting patient safety first. Ninety-three per cent of Northern Health obstetrical healthcare providers (including physicians, midwives, nurses and administrators) are participating in the program. Evaluation of the program has demonstrated a growth in leadership capacity with safe patient care at the core. Activities within the program include environmental scans, patient satisfaction surveys, staying current with new evidence and best practices, participating in workshops, and competency drills.

The Annual Cultural Assessment for 2009 revealed that the participants had an improved sense of work culture, including: open communication with respect to patients and general knowledge; valuing each other’s knowledge-base and skills sets; and an improved sense of teamwork. An improvement in staff retention and recruitment has been seen in all sectors.

Statistical information from the B.C. Perinatal Health Program database shows improved statistics on the number of: c-sections, labour inductions, mothers who received an epidural, intermittently listening to the unborn baby’s heart during labour (auscultation), and newborns with cord blood gas assessments after delivery.

Changes and efforts that were made to achieve these outcomes and spread the initiative included the following:

  • Promoting the annual program components of the MOREOB program
    for all participants;
  • Monthly regional obstetrical rounds via videoconference;
  • Development of a Regional Perinatal Council, including quality
    practice working groups;
  • Growing communities of practice;
  • Design of a template to support Council development for other disciplines
    such as critical care, emergency care and residential care; and
  • Annual planning conference for core team leaders;
  • Annual Regional Perinatal Practice Conference open to all care providers & administrators.

The MOREOB program has been an effective and good choice for Northern Health. All Obstetrical care providers and their administrators are on “the team”. There is cohesiveness, networking, improved morale and most importantly a consensus on patient safety as our number one priority. In our community hospitals the MOREOB philosophy of Patient Safety and ‘no blame’ is being adopted by other disciplines of practice.

Back row: Dr. Bill Kingston, Karin Gerlach Registered Midwife, Lynn Schien RN, Dr. Paul Murray, Carol-Anne Mikkelson, Dr. Linda Wilson, Dr. Brian Galliford, Bruna Schnepf RN & Site Administrator.

Front row: Leah Sharpe RN, Val Cardwell RN (holding the Torso), Rose Perrin RN, Jane Ritchey RN & Educator (holding the baby), Dawn Gauthier RN and Dr. Marie Odulio.

 

 

For more information on Northern Health, please visit their website at www.northernhealth.ca or contact the Communications Department by phone at (250) 565-2694 or by email at hello@northernhealth.ca.

 

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