Healthcare Organizations Across Canada Launch Improvement Projects

EXTRA by the numbers (CNW Group/Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement)

Logo: Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CNW Group/Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement)

Many Teams Focus on Providing Patient Care Closer to Home

OTTAWA, April 26, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement today announced nine new healthcare improvement projects across the country it will support over the next year through its flagship fellowship program, with a focus on innovative ways of shifting care to patients' homes or communities.

The projects from healthcare organizations in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia have been selected for the EXTRA: Executive Training Program, a team-based 14-month bilingual improvement fellowship – the only one of its kind in Canada. Each team of healthcare providers and managers designs, implements and evaluates a major quality improvement project that is of strategic value to its organization and region.

This year the program has a special focus on integrating care across services, sectors and providers in order to deliver high quality care in the patient's home or community. This could include: improving transitions between services, organizations or jurisdictions; or shifting the care delivery from acute to home or community settings.

The projects include:

• Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de la Montérégie-Ouest (Québec): Innovating to create services and care in the community for stroke patients*
  
  
• Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) du Centre-Sud-de-l'île-de-Montréal (Québec): Integrating the services offered by the Notre-Dame Hospital within the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal to better meet the needs of this population and support transitions between hospital and community care*
  
  
• Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de Chaudière-Appalaches (Québec): Maximizing the role of care attendants in caring for patients in long term care facilities
  
  
• Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean (Québec): Organizing pediatric palliative care to ensure quality local care based on best practices*
  
  
• Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de la Montérégie-Est (Québec): Involving patient advisors in analyzing serious adverse events
  
  
• Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de la Montérégie-Centre (Québec): Implementing a public health piloting room at Montérégie's public health directorate, an innovative management tool that will serve all three CISSS in the region and enable coordinated public health activities that enhance population health
  
  
• Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation (Ontario): Scaling-up cancer coaching, an innovative health service that pairs cancer patients with healthcare providers such as nurses and social workers for one-on-one support around the issues that are important to the patient*
  
  
• BC Cancer Agency and Fraser Health (British Columbia): Enhancing the community oncology network in British Columbia*
  
  
• Nova Scotia Health Authority (Nova Scotia): Building a 'home first' philosophy in NSHA and beyond*

*These projects focus on this year's special topic.

For more than a decade, EXTRA has supported 372 healthcare professionals from 136 organizations who have undertaken 220 evidence-informed improvement projects. The program builds the capacity of healthcare leaders and organizations to achieve, sustain and scale improvements, and creates a pan-Canadian community of healthcare leaders dedicated to innovation.

Previous EXTRA projects have generated significant improvements in patient care, health outcomes and value-for-money, and the program has served as an incubator for work that is sustained and spread across the country. EXTRA projects led by teams from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority have reduced the use of antipsychotic medication in long term care facilities and CFHI has spread this approach to homes across Canada through the Reducing Antipsychotic Medication Use in Long Term Care Collaborative and across New Brunswick through the New Brunswick Appropriate Use of Antipsychotics Collaborative.

The EXTRA program is supported by numerous partner organizations. For a full list of partners, please visit CFHI's website.

Read more about the 2017-18 EXTRA teams and their projects.

Quotes:

"By shifting care from hospital to home and community, we can help more Canadians get the best possible care in the most appropriate setting. ‎Innovative partnerships and projects like these will be key to helping us chart a course for a healthcare system that is both high quality and patient-centred."

The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health

"Supporting teams of innovators is crucial to building a better healthcare system that provides Canadians with higher-quality integrated care. The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement is committed to working shoulder-to-shoulder with healthcare leaders and I am pleased that so many accepted our call to focus on providing care for patients at home or in the community."

Maureen O'Neil, O.C., CFHI President

The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement identifies proven innovations and accelerates their spread across Canada, improving patient care, the health of Canadians and value-for-money. CFHI is a not-for-profit organization funded by Health Canada.

Visit cfhi-fcass.ca for more information.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada

SOURCE Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement

To arrange media interviews, please contact: Tamir Virani, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Officer, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, [email protected], T: 613-728-2238 (232), C: 613-410-2617

Related Links

http://www.cfhi-fcass.ca