The Synergy Tool: Making Important Quality Gains within One Healthcare Organization

Enoch Ho, Elaine Principi, Charissa P. Cordon, Yayra Amenudzie, Krista Kotwa, Sarah Holt and Maura MacPhee
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Enoch Ho: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Elaine Principi: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Charissa P. Cordon: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Yayra Amenudzie: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Krista Kotwa: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Sarah Holt: Quality and Performance, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON L8V 1C3, Canada
Maura MacPhee: School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada

Administrative Sciences, 2017, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-8

Abstract: Background: Evidence-based clinical care delivery begins with comprehensive assessments of patients’ priority needs. A Canadian health sciences corporation conducted a quality improvement initiative to enhance clinical care delivery, beginning with one acute care site. A real-time staffing tool, the synergy tool, was used by direct care providers and leadership to design and implement patient-centered care delivery. The synergy tool is the patient characteristics component of the Synergy Model™, developed by an expert panel of nurses in the 1990s. Since then, the tool has been effectively used to assess a variety of patient populations on eight important characteristics, informing real-time staffing decisions. Methods: Plan-Do-Study Act cycles were managed by department-based project teams with assistance from business analytics and a quality/safety officer. Results: Initial findings demonstrate reductions in nurse missed breaks, improved workload management, and significant increases in staff engagement. Conclusions: The synergy tool is an easy-to-use tool that can be used to highlight priority care needs for individual patients or specific patient populations. The tool informs real-time staffing decisions, ensuring a better fit between patient needs and nurse staffing assignments. Although this initiative began with nurses, project work is expanding to include inter-professional teams.

Keywords: synergy tool; patient-centred care; PDSA cycles; quality improvement collaboratives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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