As Administrative Assistant to eight patient care managers at Providence Health Care (PHC), Chantal Chow is well-informed about how the organization aims to deliver high-quality care. But when one topic kept coming up in staff meetings and orientations she set out to find out more about a “seemingly mundane computer system” that was helping to improve patient safety at PHC. Yes, that system was BCPSLS!
To learn more, Chantal turned to the Alder Unit team at St. Vincent’s: Langara where safety is an integral part of their culture. In fact, as Sarah Carriere, BCPSLS Coordinator, puts it, “The Alder team live and breathe patient safety.”
Alder Unit team
Chantal sat down with Patty Yoon, Patient Care Manager, Tertiary Mental Health, Malcolm Jenkins, previous Unit Supervisor, and Sarah to learn more about why reporting patient safety events promotes learning and best practices. She was also curious about patient stories and how they tie in with BCPSLS as a way to improve care at Alder. For Chantal, these conversations were highly informative.
“I learned that the Alder team treats each PSLS report as part of a patient’s health care journey. There was one patient they told me about who had an unusually high number falls reported in PSLS. The team used the PSLS reports to identify why the patient kept falling, which prompted follow-up discussions with the care team and patient’s family. In the end, the team improved that patient’s quality of life and I think that’s the most powerful aspect of PSLS – the ability to improve care for every patient at PHC.”
Chantal hopes her story will show other non-clinical staff that BCPSLS is an important part of providing safe care across the province.
Kudos Chantal!
To learn more, check out PSLS = Improved Patient Safety (story courtesy of PHC News)