The PICU Task Force
Since the last issue of ‘Children First’ was published, the PICU Task Force has made significant progress in implementing practice changes brought forward by the team.
The PICU Nursing Practice Committee
First and foremost, the biggest achievement for the PICU Task Force was the creation and introduction of a PICU Nursing Practice Committee. The first committee meeting was held on 9 October 2012 and has been taking place every week in the PICU staffroom. The Terms of Reference and membership were drafted, reviewed and agreed on by the committee. The committee meets to review documentation and the PICU Critical Care and Cardiovascular Nursing Core Standards of Care, as well as reviewing any Issue Referral Forms handed in anonymously via the Issue Referral Form box placed in the PICU. Not only has the committee proved important in encouraging PICU nurses to exercise their own voices and opinions, but is challenging practice within the department to advance quality of patient care.
The task force is made up of multi-disciplinary members including respiratory therapy, dietetics, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and pharmacy, as well as nursing and physicians. There is notable improvement in communication between nurses, allied health professionals and the physicians within PICU, which can be acknowledged through the multi-disciplinary approach being utilized during patient rounds.
The PICU Task Force has achieved its objectives for 2012. Inter-disciplinary in-service presentations that had commenced in 2012 will continue to occur in order to encourage further team building to support sustainability planning, as well as ongoing clinical consolidation from SickKids SMEs within RT, PT and nursing. A high priority for the taskforce for 2013 will be the implementation of the Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) program.
It is important to recognize how far the team has come in terms of not only meeting objectives, but also the tremendous sense of teamwork that resonates throughout the unit now. The inter-disciplinary approach of the taskforce has improved the quality of work for staff, and is continually striving to provide better health care for our pediatric patients at HMC.
