iCare improves patient care quality and access to acute care beds at Powell River General Hospital

POWELL RIVER, BC -- An innovative patient care planning tool in place at Powell River General Hospital has improved both the quality of patient care and patient access to an acute care bed at Powell River General Hospital, without additionally increasing the number of funded acute care beds or number of hours worked by nurses.

Known as iCare, the tool has increased patient admissions into acute care hospital beds by 15% -- from 27 to 31 patients per week -- as well as enabled health care teams to better co-ordinate both in-hospital and post-discharge care planning.

“iCare has allowed us to improve the patient’s in-hospital experience by streamlining their stay, from admission to discharge.” said Wendy Hansson, VCH-Coastal’s Chief Operating Officer. “iCare allows the care team to clarify the care goals of every patient and eliminate delays for their care. This also creates greater capacity in the system without using more resources.”

The iCare approach involves daily rounds with the hospitalized patient’s health care team. This usually includes the physician, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, patient care coordinator, home health liaison and utilization clinician among others.

Because key members of a patient’s care team are together – ready with the right information – a clear picture of their medical status can be recorded, and acted upon almost immediately. Prior to iCare, a patient saw their care providers, but usually at different times of the day or week, resulting in a lag time for implementation of discharge plans.

Recent iCare analysis also shows that PRGH is discharging more patients, with the number of patient discharges increasing from 17 per week to 22 per week, a 22% increase. As well, patients’ average length of stay in hospital is shorter. The average length of stay for a patient decreased from 11.1 days to 8.3 days, a 25.3% reduction.

Despite shorter length of stays for patients, re-admission rates to the hospital have decreased, a sign that the quality of patient care has remained high and patients are not discharged before they’re ready. The length of stay reduction comes as a result of better coordination of the care team, so that patients don’t have to wait in hospital for, say, scheduling of a home-care nurse.

“iCARE is really just an innovative way of care planning that provides comprehensive care plans and discharge plans for all patients,” said Brenda Langevin, Director, VCH – Powell River Sunshine Coast. “The data shows we are treating more patients, and keeping them in hospital for fewer days, without discharging them too quickly.”

iCare is also in place at Sechelt’s St. Mary’s Hospital and at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. Richmond Hospital also follows a similar approach to patient care planning, called rCare.

VCH is responsible for the delivery of $3 billion in community, hospital and residential care to more than one million people in communities, including Richmond, Vancouver, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky corridor, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.

Contact

Vancouver Coastal Health
Trudi Beutel
Public Affairs Officer
Phone: 604-708-5282
Cell: 604-812-1847
Email: trudi.beutel@vch.ca