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Karen Dobbie HR Manager Trillium Health Centre Hospital Acute Care Mississauga, Ontario kdobbie@thc.on.ca
When was your practice implemented? January 2010
Describe the issue that prompted the implementation of your practice: Our outstanding People at Trillium are our most valued and trusted resource in providing quality patient centered care. CareWorks is an innovative customer service program designed to support our Outstanding People in their own work environment as they continue to positively impact the lives of our patients. CareWorks focuses on promoting a healthy work place by ensuring that our outstanding people receive support and care and have ready access to important employee information, at their place of work. The goal of this program is to create and sustain a stimulating and quality work environment that will attract, retain and develop the best prepared workforce of individuals and teams who are inspired to do their best. As a result of receiving targeted and dedicated integrated support from Trillium's People Team, we believe that our Outstanding People can excel at championing inspired healthcare in a positive healthy work environment.
Describe your practice: * An initial meeting between the manager and representatives from EHSW and HR takes place in order to develop an individualized plan for the CareWorks program on that unit. * Duration of the program will be based upon needs of the unit and number of employees. * Managers will select from a menu of in-services which will be delivered by Occupational Health and HR on the unit.* These services range from topics of wellness, Occupational Health and HR info.The goal was to positively impact the wellness of our staff, reduce stress and increase job satisfactionAt the end of the program recommendations will be provided to the manager on how best to sustain support for staff on the unit.
Describe how your practice was implemented and the resources required (e.g. people, time, money): Occupational Health and HR developed the program and rolled it out to the organization on a unit by unit basis.Since we already had most of the information already in house we simply packaged it in a format which was more accessible to our staff.
Explain the impact of your practice: We compared data from our annual healthy workplace survey with post implementation feedback from the staff on the unit. All areas measured had improved.
How did it improve quality of worklife? Please see results in section below
How do you know? (e.g. surveys to staff, a formal evaluation process, specific outcomes, feedback) * 95% of staff agreed that the CareWorks program was beneficial* 59% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had enhanced team building on the unit* 77% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had enhanced their job satisfaction* 82% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had helped to reduce their stress level* 68% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had made them feel safer in their workplace* 91% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had enhanced their knowledge of how to prevent injuries at work* 96% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had improved their awareness of using safety lifting devices* 87% agreed or strongly agreed that the program had shown them how to make healthy lifestyle choices
What lessons learned and issues to consider are you able to share with colleagues? * Unit Manager support is key* Demand for program was more than resources available
