Hôtel-Dieu Grace implementing new care model to improve patient stays, reduce nurse burnout

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Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare is implementing a new patient care model, adding as many as 30 personal support workers to its complement of nursing staff in a bid to boost patient care and reduce staff burnout.

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The new model announced Friday, which the hospital as dubbed “team-based care,” will be introduced in the hospital’s complex medical care unit for Nov. 1. The hospital eventually hopes to expand the model to its rehabilitation and mental health units.

“Moving to this team-based model of care will mean that our patient’s needs will be met beginning at admission, right through to their discharge,” said Bill Marra, hospital president and CEO in a statement.

As the province and country faces a chronic shortage of nurses, Marra said they noticed during the pandemic — when the hospital added personal support workers (PSWs) to help with patient care needs — that the extra set of hands was helpful in alleviating the burden on nurses.

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It allows nurses to focus on their clinical duties, while PSWs offer additional support for patient care.

“(Nurses) can focus on primarily their clinical responsibilities, while PSWs for example, can assist with dressing and toileting, bathing and showers, they can do skin reviews … review vital signs,” Marra said.

“Those types of responsibilities that are important as it relates to patient experience and quality of stay … but they don’t require the clinical practice, the clinical scope or skill set of an RPN or RN.”

Marra added that because Hôtel-Dieu is a post-acute care hospital, the length of patient stays is longer — about 45 days in the complex care unit, or three weeks in the rehabilitation unit, it makes patient comfort and satisfaction all the more important .

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Hospital officials are also hopeful that, in addition to better patient care and recovery, the move will help reduce staff burnout especially among nurses, by offering them more help in caring for patients.

The move will add as many as 30 new PSWs to the hospital staff when the model is fully implemented, about 60 per cent of whom will be full-time staff. No staff jobs will be lost and the hospital will be introduced, hiring and training staff over the next six months.

The hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council endorsed and supports the model, the hospital noted in a statement. While it is new for Hotel Dieu, Marra said it is used in other Ontario and American hospitals and is approved by the College of Nurses of Ontario.

“We’re really confident that this will improve patient outcomes, patient quality of stay. It’ll improve the quality of work environment for our staff and overall, it’ll provide a positive culture and environment as a hospital.

“We looking to always improve and create a better environment for our people and for our patients. This transition really addresses that on both fronts.”

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