Springdale best practice team works to engage all staff members
Departments more aware of residents’ health needs since committee formation
Thursday May 8, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Since forming a little more than a year ago, the best practice committee at Springdale Country Manor has been successful at sharing information, say committee members.

The best practice team at the Peterborough long-term care home consists of eight front-line staff members representing each department. The committee meets monthly to discuss benchmarking and statistics with the overall goal of providing insight to each department as to what the other is doing.

Best practice committees, which are established at each of OMNI’s 17 long-term care homes, also serve as an opportunity for departments to swap information about individual residents’ care needs.

“(The committee) really encourages good communication,” says committee member and supportive measures specialist Scott Ladoucier. “It’s front-line staff who really has the information on the residents.”

Working together as a team, Ladoucier notes the committee has seen successes. By sharing information the committee has been able to work together to stabilize one resident’s weight, he says. The committee has also succeeded at encouraging more residents to come to the dining room.

In terms of staff engagement, Ladoucier says he has seen the home’s nutritional care staff benefit from the committee meetings. Nutritional care staff members, he says, have become increasingly aware of residents’ conditions.

“The kitchen staff is really becoming part of the care team,” he says. “They didn’t know why we did certain things with the residents but they now really have a better understanding of what goes on in the residents’ day. That is probably the biggest thing I’ve seen.”

Karen Baker, a nutritional care assistant and committee member, says being a part of the team has been helpful in terms of identifying residents’ health needs.

Before she joined the committee, Baker says the nutritional care department “didn’t know a lot about people’s situations.” Since sharing information attained from the best practice meetings, Baker says her department has become more attentive when it comes to noticing residents’ needs.

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