Development of the
Patient Information
Centre
(Formerly the Regional Call Centre)
Two staff were seconded to the SIU to
commence the development of a Patient
Information Centre. They completed the IHI
Open school course together and used the
learnings as a basis for implementing change.
I use this model to help sell our service to the schedulers. To
convince them that our service is to help with their role and at the
same time provide a service for the patient. I show the schedulers
how this change will help them in their role and take phone calls
away from them – unfreezing. Then I take them through a trial
period to show how this will work and also that we value their
input to best inform the patient, designing algorithms for them
with their approval – Change or transition. Once change has been
implemented and shown that it works, I show the schedulers
the process that they have helped put in place by emailing the
algorithms - Freezing.
People made me
interested in Quality
Improvement.
Interview with Adele Dreadon, Patient
Information Centre
Adele Dreadon from the Patient Information Centre was one of
the first administration staff to complete the IHI Open School and
did so as she started her involvement in the redevelopment of the
Regional Call Centre into the Patient Information Centre.
Message from
IHI Chief
I was thrilled to hear that you are honing your improvement
skills by taking some of the modules in the IHI Open School.
I've taken these lessons myself, so I'm confident that they
will provide you with the basic skills you can use in your
improvement work at the BOPDHB. You may want to practice
using these methods for a personal improvement project. I'm
currently trying to ‘hold the gains’ in my own project, which is to
use the elliptical machine at the gym for 20 minutes at level 10
at least twice a week. Next step is to go up to level 11. I don't
want to spend more than 20 minutes because my ‘balancing
measure’ is time available for free weights, and I don't want to
short-change that part of my workout.
Left to right Adele Dreadon and Chris Bark who both work in the Patient
Information Centre.
Congratulations on embarking on your improvement journey.
What made you become interested in
quality improvement?
Don Goldmann, MD
Chief Medical and Scientific Officer
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
People made me interested in quality improvement. Because most
things we do in our lives are for people. Whether it’s our loved
ones, children, friends, work colleagues; we are surrounded by
people. I love seeing people happy. Especially when something is
not going right for someone and you come along and put a smile
on their face either by actually providing what they ask for but
if you cannot, reassuring them that it will happen but that some
things take time.
What kinds of things have you applied this
to in your own work?
Understanding that not everyone adapts to change easily but
there is a way around it. The lesson on Overcoming Resistance to
Change – The Human Side of Quality Improvement is one I use
all the time. Each day I can apply the Lewin Model because it is
simple and easy to remember:
1. Unfreezing.
2. Change or transition.
3. Freezing.
10
Helen Mason with Don Goldmann when she received her Harkness Fellowship