More Time To Care – Capturing the Voice of Our Patients at Health Achieve

Patient and Family Partnered Care Coordinator Tamara Dube-Clarke attended the Health Achieve Symposium in Toronto recently where she was invited to sit on two panels. This event draws North America’s top health care leaders and over 7,800 health care professionals so NBRHC was very proud that Tamara was asked to take part in two of the educational sessions!

She was able to promote how this year NBRHC has embarked on the journey of More Time to Care – a continuous improvement system that empowers people at all levels to remove waste from their work processes to free up time for care and partner with patients and families to help improve patient outcomes.

Tamara sat on the Accreditation Canada Patient and Family Engagement Panel as well as the Patient Engagement Change Foundation Panel. Upon her return from Health Achieve Tamara had this to say:

“What an amazing opportunity to be invited to be a participant in the two panels. I was so proud to represent NBRHC in sharing what we have done to ensure patients and their families are engaged in their health care experience.

The fact that we have been recognized as leaders in Patient and Family Engagement says a lot about the work that our organization has done in shaping our culture to one that is truly patient and family partnered paving the way to best possible outcomes for the patient, their families and NBRHC employees.

My talk highlighted the use of photoVOICE and digital Story Telling to capture the voice of our patients and those that care for them. Attendees laughed and cried when stories were shared, many leaving the presentation inspired to try photography as a medium for story telling at their organizations.

Those in attendance were very interested in learning how they might better understand the patient’s lived experience when there is difficulty communicating. The idea of using photography to generate conversation and understanding about the mental health experience was very well received. After the presentation attendees lined up to ask questions on how we got started and how they can find out more about our exciting initiatives.

Since returning from Health Achieve we have received many calls and emails requesting further information regarding our initiatives and what we have planned moving forward. I have shared our Patient and Family Partnered Care Roadmap, outlining our plans to support the four core concepts of Patient and Family Partnered Care at the NBRHC; Dignity and Respect, Information Sharing, Participation and Collaboration. This is all part of our new culture of More Time to Care…a continuous improvement process that identifies waste and frees up more time for care team members to partner with patients and family.

At a time when our health care system is under such restraints and growing so complex, it is nice to be reminded that THE  most important thing we can do is listen to our patients and their families and that will move the change we need.”

NBRHC Board Director Jennifer Valenti was fortunate to attend the OHA Conference where she attended one of the panel presentations. The following are some of her comments in a letter to NBRHC President and CEO Paul Heinrich:

I had the privilege of attending the session on Partnered Health Care where Tamara Dube-Clarke spoke on behalf of the NBRHC.  I cannot tell you enough how impressed I am with this young woman. Although she said she was nervous, her presentation was excellent and delivered in an eloquent and genuine manner. I believe she truly captured the audience with her presentation on the work being done at NBRHC.  It wasn’t just what she said but how she delivered the message with her natural grace and poise.  It is obvious that she connects very deeply with her work. The hospital is very lucky to have someone of her calibre on staff.