The Specialized Approach to Senior Care aims to enhance patient-centred care at the JGH by catering to the complex and multidisciplinary needs of our elderly patients. It calls for a shift in the culture at the hospital, which will have a positive impact on everyone, from staff to patients, visitors, volunteers and others. It is expected that this process will be rewarding for everyone who participates; as the patient experience among the hospital’s elderly population improves, it will translate to an increased sense of job satisfaction and positive outcomes for staff and volunteers.
The most important contribution staff can make is to continue providing the highest quality of care in a compassionate way to your patients. This initiative establishes a common goal, so everyone can play a role in designing services of the highest quality, suited to the specific needs of our elderly patients.
SASC will provide staff members with tools and knowledge to enhance the way they deliver care and the way they interact with their elderly patients. Many hospital services will be organized or reorganized to provide special attention to the particular needs of our elderly patients, such as the design of units, the way space is organized (physical environment) and lighting.
Volunteers will be kept informed of all progress and achievements along the way so they can best understand how to continue alleviating the concerns of patients and their loved ones as well as providing them with a sense of comfort while they are in the hospital.
All volunteers will be able to provide social and mental stimulation by initiating conversations with patients. More specifically, when the time comes, volunteers assigned to clinical areas can take on some additional responsibility in keeping patients mobile and helping them at meal times. Those assigned to common hospital areas will be able to tend to the needs of elderly patients trying to navigate through the hospital's many floors, pavilions and buildings.
Though this initiative is mandated by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, there is a need to find the best ways to improve the patient’s experience at the JGH. SASC has been and continues to be adapted with thought and care to make sure that the particular needs of elderly patients at the JGH are addressed. This is a truly multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from clinicians, allied health professionals and others, all with their own areas of specialization and areas of expertise. The range of points of view engaged in this program allow for the interrelated and specialized needs of elderly patients to be taken into account every step of the way.
Special care is being taken to look at process, structure and outcomes, to ensure that the program we were tasked with was adapted appropriately to reflect the areas we identified as important to improve patient-centred care for our elderly patients.