Stories category: Patient Experience Awards

Four teams are being recognized today by the Health Quality Council of Alberta for improving the patient and family experience across a range of services – including kidney disease, recovery from addiction, and women’s reproductive health.

“This year’s recipients are an exceptional group of providers who have shown a commitment to continually improving patient and family experiences,” notes Medgine Mathurin, Chair of the HQCA’s Patient and Family Advisory Committee and a judge of the awards. “We believe they can inspire others in the healthcare system.”

The Patient Experience Awards program was established by the HQCA and its Patient and Family Advisory Committee in 2015 to recognize and spread knowledge about initiatives that improve the patient’s overall experience in accessing or receiving healthcare services. Aspects of patient experience include relationships, and how patients and families are treated; delivery of services to be person-centred, safe, timely, and effective; planning of services, such that patients and families are treated as partners; and a clean, safe, and inviting physical environment that supports healing and the efficient delivery of services.

Submissions are evaluated in a rigorous two-part process in which applicants describe the challenge they were trying to solve, their solution and how they identified it, the impact it has had, and the degree to which their solution can be scaled up and spread to others.

“We’re not looking at what kind of service they provide per se, or to whom, but rather how and where they provide it such that it demonstrates a measurably better experience for patients,” explains Charlene McBrien-Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of the HQCA. “In that sense, these teams can provide a model for others that may be serving an entirely different patient population.”

Read about the 2024 recipients here.

June 27, 2023

Today, the Health Quality Council of Alberta honours healthcare organizations and professionals for improving the patient and family experience across a range of services – from neonatal intensive care through enhancing quality of life for people with incurable cancer.

“This year’s recipients are an exceptional group of providers that have shown a commitment to continually improving patient and family experiences,” notes Sue Peters, Chair of the HQCA’s Patient and Family Advisory Committee and a member of the final selection panel. “Whether it’s caring for preterm infants or children with feeding disorders, assisting Indigenous Peoples in navigating complex health systems, or improving support to people with advanced cancer, these programs are inspirational.”

“Particularly when you consider the pressures on the healthcare system, each of these initiatives deserves to be celebrated as examples for others,” adds Charlene McBrien-Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of the HQCA.

Read about the 2023 recipients here.

Read our news release.

In a year filled with extraordinary healthcare demands and challenges because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) today recognized four initiatives that positively impact Albertans’ experiences accessing and receiving healthcare services.

“Improving patients’ and their loved ones healthcare experiences and delivering truly person-centred care requires deliberate effort. It doesn’t just happen. For me, common themes among this year’s recipients are enquiry, responsiveness, and empowerment,” says Sue Peters, Acting Chair of the HQCA Patient and Family Advisory Committee. “Each of these teams asked and listened to what matters to those they serve, responded to and made improvements based on those needs and preferences, and empowered their patients and families to guide their own care.”

The Patient Experience Awards were established by the HQCA and its Patient and Family Advisory Committee to recognize and spread knowledge about initiatives that improve the patient’s overall experience in accessing and receiving healthcare services.

Read about the 2021 recipients.

Read the news release.

The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) has recognized four initiatives in the province that are making a positive impact on Albertans’ experiences accessing and receiving healthcare services.

“This year, as Alberta’s healthcare system focuses on guiding our communities through the COVID-19 pandemic as safely as possible, it is especially important to stop and recognize these healthcare teams who have implemented programs that positively impact their patients’ experiences,” says Dr. Greg Powell, Chair of the HQCA Patient and Family Advisory Committee. “These teams have and continue to deliver truly patient-centred services and care to their patients and their families.”

The Patient Experience Awards were established by the HQCA and its Patient and Family Advisory Committee to recognize and spread knowledge about initiatives that improve the patient’s overall experience in accessing and receiving healthcare services.

This year’s recipients are:

• The Wetaskiwin Primary Care Network (PCN) Prenatal Program, in collaboration with the University of Alberta and the Cree communities of Maskwacis, established the Elders Mentoring Program. Through the program, several Elders and grandmothers from Maskwacis work alongside staff to provide additional, culturally appropriate supports to Indigenous pregnant women and their partners in their prenatal clinic.
• The Performance Evaluation and Rhythm Follow-up Optimization through Remote Monitoring (PERFORM) team implemented remote monitoring for patients living with a cardiac implantable electrical device (CIED) more consistently across Alberta. Using remote monitoring, CIEDs can be connected at any time, wherever a cellular or WiFi network exists. This allows patients to be evaluated in their home to a similar extent as in a specialty face to face clinic visit, increasing access to appropriate and acceptable care in the community and without subjecting patients to excessive infectious risks as in the current pandemic.
• In partnership with Alberta’s critical care community, the Critical Care Strategic Clinical Network (CCSCN) led and facilitated the highly collaborative Provincial Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Delirium Initiative. This initiative team engaged patient and family advisors, operational leaders, and front-line healthcare professionals across Alberta Health Services to design, adapt, and implement leading practices for the prevention and management of ICU-associated delirium into the Alberta context. These efforts resulted in a standardized provincial approach to this aspect of care in both adult and pediatric critical care settings.
• The Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP) uses a completely virtual clinic model to connect a doctor-led, multidisciplinary team with clients referred for opioid agonist therapy (OAT; e.g., methadone or buprenorphine/naloxone). Assessment, treatment, and support are provided via videoconference, telephone, and texting, and are delivered in conjunction with a pharmacist in the local area for OAT medication dispensing.

“Each of these initiatives takes an innovative approach to engaging patients and their loved ones not only as integral members of the care team, but as real partners,” comments Brent Windwick, Chair of the HQCA Board of Directors. “When we empower patients and their families by making care accessible and inclusive, and then provide them with meaningful information and resources to become true partners in their care, it is inspiring what can happen. I commend each of this year’s award recipients for their hard work to ensure the patient is at the centre of both our care and improvement conversations.”

The Award recipients will be profiled in-depth in the future and their stories will be shared here, to spread additional learnings about their programs.

The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) has recognized four initiatives in the province that are making a positive impact on Albertans’ experiences receiving healthcare services.

“We often only hear news about Alberta’s healthcare system when something has gone wrong. The HQCA’s Patient Experience Awards program counters that by celebrating some of the truly fantastic work going on in the province which is positively impacting patient and family member experiences with healthcare. I greatly appreciate that the HQCA values the positive work, which shares these learnings with other teams and organizations so we can all continue to improve,” states D’Arcy Duquette, Chair of the HQCA Patient and Family Advisory Committee.

The Patient Experience Awards were established by the HQCA and its Patient and Family Advisory Committee to celebrate initiatives that have been implemented with a focus on improving the patient’s overall experience in accessing and receiving healthcare services.

This year’s recipients are:

• Through the NowICU project, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit(NICU) at the Misericordia Hospital uses customized, secured iPads to help bond parents with their baby, when the baby and parent are too sick to move.
• Pathologists and surgeons at the Head and Neck Surgery (HNS) clinic at the University of Alberta Hospital collaborate to deliver a better biopsy experience for patients and their family members by having specially trained pathologists collect and interpret biopsy material, engaging patients and family members in the procedure, and providing timely diagnosis (48 to 72 hours).
• The Edmonton Prostate Interdisciplinary Cancer Clinic (EPICC) provides a collaborative, multidisciplinary model of care for patients with  advanced prostate cancer,  who are no longer responding to standard care treatments, which includes providing patients with direct accessibility to their care team through a nurse coordinator.
• The Transitional Pain Service team at Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) South Health Campus takes a multimodal approach to pain management and implements a standard system of communicating with primary healthcare providers that ensures safer and more transparent transitions in care for patients between the hospital and their home and community.

“Communication and teamwork, where the patient and family are clearly considered part of the healthcare team, are two very important elements of these initiatives’ demonstrated success,” comments Andrew Neuner, CEO of the Health Quality Council of Alberta. “Healthcare quality is grounded in what a patient experiences when accessing and receiving healthcare services. I would like to commend this year’s award recipients and all those who listen to and act on the feedback about those experiences. These teams are working hard on a daily basis to ensure the patient is at the centre of both our care and improvement conversations.”

Videos will be produced to profile the Award recipients. These will be shared on the HQCA website in fall 2019 here:

https://hqca.ca/awards

The Health Quality Council of Alberta is a provincial agency that pursues opportunities to improve patient safety and health service quality for Albertans. The HQCA’s legislative mandate is to measure, monitor, assess health service quality, and identify effective practices and make recommendations for the improvement of patient safety and health service quality.

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For more information, please contact:
Lisa Brake,
Communications Director Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA)
Office: 403.297.4091
Cell: 403.875.0359
Email: lisa.brake@hqca.ca

Today the HQCA announced four recipients of its 2018 Patient Experience Award.

This year’s Patient Experience Awards once again highlighted the amazing work underway in the province to make positive impacts on the patient experience.

For the second year, the HQCA, in partnership with our Patient/Family Safety Advisory Panel, held the awards program to recognize and celebrate initiatives that improve the patient experience in accessing and receiving healthcare services.

We had 27 applications from across the province and from a variety of care settings.

The following four initiatives were selected to receive an award, which includes funding for a patient experience, quality, or patient safety education event and the opportunity to share more about their program through a public webcast on June 16 at 12 p.m. MDT.

“Catch and Pass” – Improving patient experience through Patient Experience Advisor Rounding

Red Deer Regional Health Centre

The Patient Experience Advisor (PEA) engages volunteers who are either former patients or family members of patients, to bring patient and family voice to front line staff in ‘real time’ through Patient Rounding. The PEA meets with a liaison or unit manager at the beginning of each shift to identify patients appropriate for Rounding. They then spend time with the identified patients, and while visiting with them, the PEAs ask specific questions about their care experience. When the PEA identifies gaps in patient information or hears of patient concerns it is communicated to unit staff in ‘real time’. This allows the care team to initiate a resolution process or if it can be resolved immediately staff will mitigate the issue and follow-up with the patient/family which often helps to reduce fears and anxieties.

PEAs often “catch” critical needs and concerns as well as patient expressions of appreciation for staff/physician behaviours that have positively impacted their overall experience. When PEAs receive these commendations they also “pass” them on to the inter-disciplinary care team in ‘real-time’.

Commitment to Comfort: Improving the pain experience of children in Alberta’s emergency departments

Alberta Children’s Hospital

The Commitment to Comfort Initiative was developed at the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH) emergency department (ED) to engage families as partners in improving pain outcomes for children. Children are known to experience significant short- and long-term consequences to pain, and effective treatment of pain is a high priority of families visiting emergency departments. Commitment to Comfort worked with families and patients to create and provide tools, such as posters and Comfort Menus, to help families advocate for their comfort needs. It also ensures staff have the proper tools to meet these needs, such as pain scales and comfort kits, and that they are knowledgeable on how children understand and remember pain, so they can use appropriate language when talking to children and provide helpful support during procedures.
After success at the ACH, the Commitment to Comfort program was spread to all Calgary emergency departments where children are treated. Currently, 40 rural, regional, and urban emergency departments in Alberta, representing all zones, have agreed to participate in the provincial phase of the QI collaborative.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Palliative/End of Life Care Assess, Treat and Refer Program

Alberta Health Services EMS Quality/Patient Safety & Provincial Continuing Care, Community, Seniors, Addictions & Mental Health

Historically, complex care issues have left community clinicians (home care and facility staff) and paramedics with little option but to transport patients receiving palliative and end of life care (PEOLC) to the emergency department during unexpected symptom crisis. In order to support these patients and their families who have chosen to remain home, this program was launched to provide urgent care and treatment in the home setting using an interdisciplinary approach to care and avoiding transport to the hospital when appropriate. Paramedics and members of the patient’s primary/palliative care team work together to provide care aligned with the patient’s wishes, goals of care and preferred location of care, enhancing the experience of patients and their families during this difficult time.

Senior Centre Without Walls

Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network

The Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network identified a need to build stronger relationships with those who have limited social connections, particularly those who are homebound or find it challenging to attend traditional programming due to limited mobility, finances or transportation. To help address this, they set-up a Seniors Centre Without Walls program to connect seniors 55 and older through conference calls. Through these calls, seniors who are isolated are supported with an expanded social experience, an inclusive community atmosphere is built where accessibility of health and wellness information is available, and a relationship with patients is developed to determine ways to better support their needs. The program has made meaningful impacts on those who may otherwise remain isolated, particularly surrounding life events such as the passing of a spouse/friends or change in living situation. Additionally, it ensures the patients are being supported with evidence-based and truthful information that will positively impact their overall wellbeing.

This year, the HQCA, together with its Patient/Family Safety Advisory Panel, established the Patient Experience Awards to provide recognition to individuals or teams of healthcare workers in Alberta involved in implementing an initiative that promotes a positive patient, client, or resident experience.

After receiving an overwhelming response of nearly 50 applications, four initiatives were selected to receive an award.