Bruce County’s two long-term care facilities have seen improvements on several performance indicators during the past quarter of this year.
Both Brucelea Haven and Gateway Haven have seen positive trends across multiple metrics, including in fall management, pain management, and skin and wound care.
The county’s Director of Long-Term Care and Senior Services, Emily Kussman, shared a report during a committee meeting last week.
“Falls remain as an important indicator across long-term care. At Gateway Haven, we’re please to report that the falls continue to trend downward, and falls resulting in injury also declined,” she shared. “This is particularly encouraging, given the significant number of submissions experienced during this quarter, as newly-admitted residents are typically at higher risk while adjusting to a new environment.”
Gateway is continuing work with Arjo, which is the home’s safe lift equipment provider.
Meanwhile, at Brucelea Haven, there was an increase in the number of falls, but it was found upon review that rather than an increased number of residents, it was a small number of residents experiencing repeated falls.
This has led to staff at Brucelea continuing work on individual interventions, including implementing high-low beds and fall mats.
Overall, there was a reduction in hospital transfers for injuries from fall events.
The pair of homes are also continuing education training for pressure-related skin wounds.
“At Gateway Haven, multi-disciplinary high-risk rounds have been implemented with skin and wound care as a targeted priority. Additionally, two registered nurses completed Wound Care Canada’s intensive Wound Care Champion program, and will help build staff knowledge, mentorship, and consistency in wound care practices,” said Kussman. “At Brucelea, skin and wound trends remain stable. The increase in skin concerns compared to earlier in the year, was largely attributable to residents being admitted with existing skin concerns, rather than those being developed within the home.”
Both Brucelea and Gateway are continuing their work on implementing the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) Pain Clinical Pathway, which focuses on providing standardized, evidence-based pain assessment and management. The planned go-live date is set for November.
In the meantime, staff is carrying out knowledge-sharing opportunities and staff training sessions to support the transition.
“Gateway continues to advance its palliative care program, through partnerships with St. Joseph’s Health Centre and the Ontario Health Team. Additional staff education, family engagement opportunities, and enhancement to comfort carts are helping strengthen the support available to residents and families. Both homes are preparing to implement the RNAO Clinical Pathway in November.”
To round out the report, Kussman shared updates for behavioural supports within the two homes.
While Gateway averages a caseload of 16 patients during Q3 11 per successfully discharged from the program due to positive outcomes.
Work ramped up at Brucelea Haven during this past quarter, as 17 new patients were referred to the Behavioural Supports Ontario program, which currently supports 20 residents.
Both facilities were working to train staff in the Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA) training, which is in partnership with 60 frontline staff completing the education training in this quarter.