Releasing Time to Care© (RTC
©) aims to free up clinicians’ time on acute medical units in order to provide more direct patient care. RTC
© is a licensed quality improvement program developed by the
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in England. It is being piloted in four Ontario acute medical units beginning in November 2009, coordinated and supported by CHQI.
RTC
© helps clinical teams identify where they are spending time on activities that do not add value for patients — such as duplicate charting, searching for information, and dealing with numerous interruptions. The program provides guidance on how to test and implement changes to improve patient safety, staff well-being, patients’ experience, and efficiency of care.
The RTC
© program includes three foundation modules (Well-Organized Ward, Knowing How We Are Doing, and Patient Status at a Glance) and eight process modules (Ward Rounds, Shift Handovers, Patient Observations, Admission and Planned Discharges, Meals, Medicines, Nursing Procedures, and Patient Hygiene). Each module provides a step-by-step guide to improve front-line processes of care using a variety of straightforward tools and techniques.
To ready each pilot team for success, CHQI has partnered with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and others to train participating improvement teams and executive teams. These partnerships will also provide project and measurement support, team access to an on-line resource centre, and collaborative learning opportunities across pilot sites, among other supports.
Program Participation
CHQI invited each acute care organization participating in the Leadership for Performance Excellence program (Bluewater Health, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Trillium Health Centre and Markham Stouffville Hospital) to serve as an RTC
© pilot site. One acute medical unit from each organization is implementing the program between November 2009 and August 2010. At the completion of the pilot phase, CHQI will evaluate the outcomes to identify the improvements that had the most impact, processes that require modification to suit the Ontario healthcare environment, and opportunities to spread RTC
© provincially.
Pilot sites may click here to access the password-protected CHQI©-RTC website.
Project Lead: Kim Stelmacovich