As part of our commitment to Quality and Safety, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) participates in Accreditation which is an independent, third party assessment of the care and services we provide, helping us to identify what is being done well and areas where we need improvement.
This past summer, SHA leaders, employees, Accreditation Leads, Patient and Family Advisors, and representatives from the First Nations and Métis communities were brought together to collaborate in the design of a new SHA Accreditation Model that would drive continuous quality improvement within the SHA.
This day was key to helping the SHA make future accreditation plans. Those in attendance at the event created more than 20 different options for the future Accreditation Model, ultimately selecting one recommended model to move forward. The model that was chosen and released in February is founded in the Life Cycle.
“The visual that was chosen represents the Medicine Wheel,” says Andre Letendre, Cultural System Advisor for the SHA and participant in the Accreditation Visioning Day. “The model is circular to represent holistic health and follows a continuous process from infancy to end of life.”
“At the core of the model lies the SHA values and philosophy of care, with Patient and Family Centred Care at the centre of everything we do,” says Felecia Watson, Executive Director of Patient and Client Experience. “The inter-relatedness of this model proposes that all components are required to attain our vision of Healthy People, Healthy Saskatchewan.”
Moving outwards from the center, the next section is divided into four quadrants aligning with the four directions East, South, West and North. The cycle begins in the eastern direction and progresses clockwise over a four year accreditation period. Each quadrant represents the year in which accreditation review takes place. Once the four-year cycle is complete this process begins again.
The first two quadrants of the model speak to programs, services and interventions that prevent disease and worsening of medical conditions.
East – The east symbolizes a new beginning; therefore, the model acknowledges that a healthy life is initiated with Maternal/Child (first quadrant) and continues throughout the life cycle. Governance (first quadrant) provides the health care system with guidance through policy development to ensure that all services, programs and human resources are in the right place, at the right time, with the right people to support the provision of Patient and Family Centred Care.
South – Life is the gift of the southern direction and when understood holistically, health is fundamental in the development of life. Health is maintained in the family and community. Therefore
Primary Health Care, Mental Health and Addictions, and Community Care (second quadrant) are the essential services to assist in the maintenance of a healthy birth and life cycle. There are also the services whereby early detection and response can occur.
The last two quadrants of the model speak to programs, services and interventions that intend to either heal/cure or arrest a medical condition from progressing further.
West – Healing is the gift of the western direction. In the healthcare field, Inpatient Care (third quadrant) is comprised of the facilities, services and human resources providing acute interventions. In this model, it is understood that this level of intervention at times requires specialized services.
North – The gift of the north is wisdom.
Continuing Care (fourth quadrant) is placed in the north to symbolize the wisdom in providing access to health care services for those who are in the fourth quadrant of the Life Cycle.
The white ring surrounding the quadrants represents the lens through which we view all the standards. This circle is dynamic and applied to each of the four quadrants throughout the accreditation process.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority is the conduit for effective relationships and partnerships with the
First Nations and Métis Health (white circle) traditional healers and medicines and the contemporary health care providers; to work alongside one another in providing the most effective services to all patients.
Health service providers must develop ethical relationships (white circle) internally to efficiently work as a team, and externally to allow for patients, families and communities to be directly involved in healthcare. Once those relationships are established and maintained then appropriate and effective health services can be offered while ensuring
Quality and Safety (white circle),
First Nations and Métis Health partnerships, appropriate health
system flow, and reflective of effective Leadership.
The outermost circle contains system wide standards that are reviewed during the accreditation survey every year. For this model to be most effective, all service providers must be persistent and hardworking at incorporating the policies, procedures and direction created in partnership with Leadership.
When this happens,
Infection Prevention and Control, Service Excellence, and
Medication Management (blue circle) are reaching their fullest potential, thereby ensuring service excellence in a Patient and Family Centred Care health organization.
The first service area to undergo an on-site survey will be Maternal and Children’s provincial programs during the week of November 24 – November 29, 2019. Sites that have been chosen to be surveyed and more information about the Saskatoon bridging survey can be found on the SHA Intranet.