Title : Mission safety: The journey of a rapid response team
Abstract:
Background:
Supporting nursing staff is key in supporting patient safety. With the staffing shortages, increased amount of junior staff, decreased resources and increased acuity of pediatric patients, in the moment nursing support options have become more challenging. This leaving patients at risk for delayed treatments or safety events
Abstract:
McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) has been a leader in providing tertiary level care to children across Southwestern Ontario since 1988. In recent years, the hospital has become a member of Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) ™, a network of Canadian and American hospitals partnering together to promote patient safety to pediatric patients. In this poster presentation two initiatives which support efforts to maintain a culture of patient safety will be reviewed.
The first initiative will highlight our interdisciplinary pediatric rapid response team called the Pediatric Assessment of Critical Events (PACE) team. PACE is designed to bring critical care expertise outside the walls of the PICU to the bedside of children requiring “just in time” intervention, assessment and advanced critical care. The poster presentation will include examples of how the team supports safe care and offers mobile clinical support across the inpatient wards.
The second initiative is an education platform (SharePoint) called Planet PACE. The poster presentation will demonstrate how an RNAO Advance Practice Nursing Fellowship was utilized to promote and enhance safety for pediatric patients at MCH. The poster will review how an improvement opportunity led to a SharePoint creation that was made available to all pediatric nurses as an enhanced form of clinical support. The goal of this project was to allow for collaboration and capacity building in order to best support a safety-first culture. This enhanced clinical support model has allowed for an online approach which is always available to MCH staff. The Rapid Response team continues to provide in person mentorship and coaching to pediatric nurses when identified by the RN as needed.
Objectives:
- Describe how a clinical support option was utilized to ensure nurses always have access to the support required to safely care for their patients.
- Describe how the creation of an online education platform option was used to enhance clinical support.
- Demonstrate how a Rapid Response team can be utilized to better support patients, families and staff.
Significance:
The usage of the PACE Team to help support patient safety has been imperative in supporting the staff within the Children’s Hospital. The PACE Team received 538 clinical support calls in 2022 this is an increase from 310 calls in 2015 when clinical support began in. When pediatric nurses were asked to give feedback on the clinical support option they stated it was “the phone a friend option that allows them friendly assistance anytime of the day or night”. In the same survey 92% of staff stated they had utilized the clinical support option.
The online clinical support option Planet PACE has had 3200 hits in the last year. Information is easily updated and added frequently as the request of staff or educators. Content creation also allowed an opportunity for staff to collaboration to and make content to add to the site. This has helped to ensure sustainability of the site. Supporting and empowering staff provides an opportunity for best care for all. The implementation of these clinical support services and tools has created an innovative clinical support option as no other Rapid Response teams presently practice this service in Ontario. Please join us to learn more about these exciting initiatives that collectively support staff development and foster a culture of safety across our organization.
