Experiences of Implementing the Caregiver Toolkit
The Caregiver Toolkit Toronto Symposium:
March 15, 2012

Background:




City of 50,000 people
(catchment area 180,000)
Elderly in catchment area # over 20,000
nd largest City in Manitoba
 Agricultural
 The Heart of the Prairies

Manitoba’s population - 314,000 rural
- 805,000 urban
“Geography is in fact a determinant of health”
( BUILDING on VALUES: THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE IN CANADA
- Romanow 2002)
People living in rural communities:
 have a poorer health status than other Canadians
 have less than the Canadian average life expectancy
 have higher disability rates
 have higher rates for accidents, poisoning and violence,

“Disparities in Access to Health Care”
( BUILDING on VALUES: THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE IN CANADA
- Romanow 2002)
Canadians in rural communities have:
 difficulty accessing primary health care
 difficulty keeping health care providers in their communities,
 difficulty accessing diagnostic services and other more advanced treatments.
 facilities that are sometimes limited and in serious need of upgrading.
 the added burden of paying for the high costs of travel in order to access the care they need.

Knowledge translation, education and advocacy:
“To strengthen the clinical partnership between
Home Care Program and Mental Health Services for the Elderly by focusing on knowledge transfer about caregivers through familiarization with the following documents: “


CGPL “Supporting the Caregivers of Seniors Through Policy
– The Caregiver Policy Lens” (Aug 2011);
SPRG “Service Provider Resource Guide for Supporting
Caregivers of Older Adults” (Aug 2011)

Brandon Demonstration Project
Knowledge translation, education and advocacy:
 Organizational Management and Leaders
 Clinical staff from:
Mental Health Services for the Elderly
 Clinical staff from:
Home Care program
 Affiliated others

Brandon Demonstration Project
Knowledge translation, education and advocacy:
Implementation Objectives
 To introduce the CGPL and SPRG to relevant leadership within the Brandon RHA
 To share the SPRG toolkit with service providers in our two separate programs
 To select tools for potential use within our two programs

Brandon Regional Health Authority
Caregiver Demonstration Project on Knowledge Translation to Service Providers - Nov2011 to Sept 2012
Home Care (HC) & Mental Health Services for the Elderly (MHSE)
WHY?
State the issue that needs to be addressed.
Why do we need to work on it and why now?
There is a need for staff to have a common minimal understanding of caregiver issues.
WHAT?
What specific action will be taken to make an
Improvement?
Using the Service Provider Resource Guide for
Supporting Caregivers of Older Adults (Aug
2011) – we will.

Provide a minimum of three educations sessions available to MHSE Community Mental
Health Workers and Home Care Case
Coordinators

Place information on the resource guide within the staff newsletter (Regional Responder)
WHO?
Who is responsible for carrying out the action and who will be involved and who will be affected?
Darlene Henry RPN/RN –
Manager; Mental Health
Services for the Elderly
Cathy Gfellner-Donald, RN
Director – Brandon Home
Care Program
Tanis Horkey, BScPN –
Community Mental Health
Worker

Identify minimum learning objectives for involved staff and identify a mechanism for tracking with acknowledging if their achievements
Kathy Foley, RPN/RN
Community Staff Educator

Identify potential strategies that could be feasible for ongoing orientation with new staff.

Provide information on the Resource Guide, the Service Provider Tool Kit and the website to
Community Program Managers, Leadership and
Planning Departments by placing on agendas of at least two meetings and providing copies of the materials.
WHEN?
Timelines until action is complete (start and end dates)
Commence focus on care giving
November 2012
HOW?
How will we know if the action resulted in an improvement (comparator, benchmark & target)?
• Agenda Items will be reflected in meeting minutes
Introduce concepts to management and plan education session by
January 31, 2012
• # of emails disseminated.
• # of staff attending # of sessions
• 2 Articles from Responder will be available Staff Education sessions held by
March 31, 2012 • Staff Education Records will be maintained.
Identify accomplishments and benefits by
June 2012
•Information on RHA Intranet
• Survey to staff. pre and post education
Complete summary report by
September 2012

Review and select relevant caregiver assessment guidelines and screening tools that could be recommended for inclusion in our respective assessment protocols.
- D. Henry RPN/RN – MHSE
- C. Gfellner-Donald, RN – HC
- T. Horkey, BScPN – MHSE
- K. Foley, RPN/RN –
Educator by
March 2012
• Tools recommended

State the issue that needs to be addressed.
Why do we need to work on it and why now?


What specific action will be taken to make an Improvement?
Using the SPRG
(Aug 2011)
– we will:
 Provide a minimum of three educations sessions available to Home Care, C.M.H.W.s and others.
Who:
CGF; DH; KF; TH –
When:
Jan - March, 2012
 Identify minimum learning objectives and track/ acknowledge achievements or completion.
Who:
CGF; DH; KF; TH
– When: by June 2012
 Plan strategies for new staff orientation.
Who:
CGF; DH; KF; TH
– When: by June 2012


Place information within the staff newsletter (Regional Responder)
Who: CGF; DH; KF; TH –When: by June 2012
 Introduce CGPL, SPRG and the Website to Leaders, Planners and Community
Program Managers.
Who:
CGF; DH; KF; TH
– When: by March 2012
 Review/select guidelines and screening tools to sanction for use in our respective assessment protocols.
Who:
CGF; DH; KF; TH
– When: by
March 2012
June 2012

How will we know if the action resulted in an improvement
(comparator, benchmark & target)?
 Telehealth Presentation provided to the MB Network of Psychogeriatric Program Specialists on January 13
- 30 attendees (approx)
 Included on several meeting agendas.
- 5 meetings (2 provincial, 1 partner and 3 RHA)
 Three presentations provided to RHA community staff
- ( 53) attendees. Feb 3/12 (30); Feb 23/12 (9); Mar.12/12 ( 14 )

 February 2, 2012 - Community Program In-service
 Guest Speaker (Marian Krawczyk)


2 Introductory Sessions – overview of CGPL & SPRG
Invitations sent to additional partners
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February 21, 2012: Home Care Monthly In-service


Presented by Darlene Henry
Invitations shared with Mental Health
March 12, 2012: MHSE In-service
 Invitation shared with Home Care and others.

 If it works, do more of it…
 If it doesn’t work, try something else...
 Share your successes with each other, and…
 Use a common language and format for documentation of caregiver support plans.

Challenges:
We all have a tendency to re-invent the wheel.
•2

 Exploring webinar training for our staff educators, who in turn could provide education to staff.
 Hoping to develop online format for education available on staff Intranet site.
 Brandon University Psychology students are presenting using the Caregiver Policy Lens.
 Meetings planned in April towards selecting tools to incorporate into the Electronic Health Record.

Our Vision
- for Seniors and their Caregivers
“ Setting a Clear Vision …”
( BUILDING on VALUES: THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE IN CANADA
- Romanow 2002