Negotiating service improvements in the face of pressures to optimise productivity: Lessons learned

• Published in: Occupational Therapy Now Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 22 - 24
• Main Authors: Freeman, Andrew, Genest, Catherine, Lam, Jessica, Boucher, Dominique, Marcoux, Chantale, Robitaille, Julia
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists 01-05-2020
• Subjects: Collaboration; Intervention; Occupational therapy; Physical therapy; Professions; Scope of practice; Therapists; Canada; Quebec Canada
• ISSN: 1481-5532

Background and impetus for change The practice context that we describe in this article is the publicly funded home care service in the Quebec City area, situated within a regional Integrated Health and Social Services Centre1 The goal of this service is to enable clients to stay in their preferred life setting with the greatest autonomy possible. 40 occupational therapists, distributed across three sites, provide services for mainly older individuals experiencing restrictions in their ability to perform meaningful occupations. The practice standards for each discipline were required to meet the following agreed-upon criteria: 1) appropriate use of professional competencies, 2) faster and more equitable service access, 3) improved service continuity, 4) efficient and effective use of available resources, 5) optimal interprofessional collaboration, and 6) empowerment of clients, including the maximisation of their potential and independence. [...]of this decision, the home care service provided continuing education and clinical support as necessary to ensure that the therapists could competently carry out this activity. Specific lessons learned Based on our experience in collaboratively evolving the organization of home care services, we outline below lessons learned that can serve as suggestions to apply this system into other services and contexts: * Mobilize multidisciplinary teams to assess their practice and identify potential for change, particularly in relation to impact of practices on service users, and support them during the change process. * Ensure the ongoing presence of managers during the change process and ongoing implementation.