About the only thing missing is Alex Trebek.
Complete with the iconic theme song, game board of categories and cheering audience, staff at Toronto Rehab's Bickle Centre for Complex Continuing Care have been playing "Jeopardy! – Caring Safely Edition," a relaxed, upbeat way to drive home key messages about one of UHN's Foundational Elements.
"It's a fun way to reinforce what we've learned," says registered nurse Priya Muraleetharan, who recently participated in a lively Jeopardy! game with about 40 other staff members.
October is Caring Safely Month, a time to not only celebrate the achievements of UHN's patient and workplace safety transformation but emphasize some of its core principles. To mark the month, staff are being asked:
"How are you living Caring Safely?" and submit their answers on this form.
At Bickle, where staff completed their core Caring Safely training over the summer, Amanda Beales, Interprofessional Educator, and Maria Chiera-Lyle, Advanced Practice Nurse Educator, were looking for a way to test what staff learned, but do so in a low-key environment.
So, as part of the agenda for "Professional Development Day, Fall 2017" is a UHN edition of the popular nightly television game show, which has been hosted for more than 30 years by the affable, Canadian-born Trebek.
October is ...
Month
"I'll take 'Speak up for Safety' for 200, please," a staff member asked Amanda during a recent game.
"A tool to prevent a safety error by voicing your concern and escalating when necessary," she replied.
"What is ARCC," came the reply, as the large screen at the front of the room gave more detail to the answer by spelling out what the acronym stands –
Ask me a question; make a
Request, voice a
Concern; and, if no success, use
Chain of command – and when the error prevention tool should be used – "only if you observe a situation that you believe compromises safety."
As the audience applauded, Maria walked over to award the "contestant" a Caring Safely lanyard.
"We thought this was a perfect way to build sustainability and reinforce learning," says Amanda, noting she and Maria will run the game at least seven times for all professional staff before the end of October.
Maria says that by including Caring Safely into a full-day program that also includes a range of topics from "an introduction to the dialysis patient" and "courageous conversations" to handwashing and "moral distress, compassion fatigue and burnout," the message is that it's something that matters to all.
"We're close-knit here," Maria says. "We wanted to reinforce through the game, and through the day's events, that we're empowering each other to build a better Bickle."
Maria adds that the game "is a fun way of making the new learning stick.
"They are among their peers and the support they have for each other really helps them learn," she says. "It also reinforces their ability to work as a team."
Priya, who attended the Professional Development Day with a number of her nursing colleagues from Unit 5 South, says even though she's only been at Bickle for about a year she's noticing in recent months a heightened emphasis on safety, for both patients and in the workplace.
"Everyone is being more aware," Priya says. "We discuss it every day, in safety huddles and elsewhere.
"This is a more exciting way to do that, especially when there are prizes," she adds with a laugh.
