The profound influence nurses have on patients, families and colleagues is on display in the 2022-2023 UHN Nursing Annual Report.
The report illuminates how nurses are helping to propel UHN’s reputation for excellence to new heights in Canada and around the globe.
Nursing milestones and innovations are highlighted, along with unique nursing roles, academic and clinical achievements, and innovative approaches for the evolving health care landscape. Stories demonstrate how UHN nurses can work at the bedside while also developing skills throughout their UHN career.
“I am proud to work alongside all UHN nurses and to work for them,” says Pam Hubley, VP and Chief Nurse Executive. “Like them, I am proud to be a nurse. I am grateful to all our nurses for their important contributions.
“I hope you will be inspired by their stories.”
The following is a sneak preview of the report. Read more of the impactful stories in the 2022-2023 UHN Annual Nursing Report. Also check out postings on UHN social media platforms.
Nurse-led tech innovation aims to support delirium prevention
The Geri-Connect App, created by three UHN Advanced Practice Nurses and partially funded through the Registered Nurses’ Foundation of Ontario (RNFOO) Nurse Innovator Award, will serve as a “one-stop shop” for assessing responsive behaviours of older persons admitted to hospital.
Led by Linda Liu, clinical nurse specialist, Medical Psychiatry; Tina Cheung, nurse practitioner, Endocrinology; and Marijana Zubrinic, nurse practitioner, Thoracic Surgery, the Geri-Connect APP was designed for use on tablets and iPhones in a culturally diverse environment and contains a repository of language-specific programs such as music, videos and games, as well as communication and re-orientation functions.
Development will ultimately integrate video conferencing applications to enhance communication among patients, families and staff, and enable nurses to build a person-centred care plan.
“We strongly believe that Geri-Connect can help nurses and truly meet patient needs during a vulnerable and distressing time in hospital,” Linda says.
Mental health nurses empower colleagues through QI project
Megan Smith and Rachel Yang, two staff nurses in the Mental Health Inpatient Unit at Toronto General Hospital, are highlighting the importance of alternatives to physical restraints in mental health care through a recent quality improvement project.
They created a resource called “Enhancing the Use of Alternative Approaches to Physical Restraints,” which covers a range of prevention strategies, from ways to build rapport with patients and enhance assessment skills, to grounding techniques and the benefits of daily behavioural activation therapy.
“We wanted to promote alternative approaches that are the least traumatizing,” says Rachel. “We thought creating this educational resource would be a great opportunity to support and empower our new nurses and let them know that there are other options.”
UHN’s Toronto Western Family Health team NPs raise the bar
Nurse practitioners (NPs) on the Family Health Team at Toronto Western Hospital are practicing at the full extent of their scope – in alignment with UHN’s new Nursing Strategy – in the capacity of Most Responsible Practitioner (MRPr).
The MRPr is a regulated health care professional who has overall responsibility for directing and coordinating the care and management of a patient at a specific point in time. It’s a significant shift in the clinic to manage a growing group of often complex patients and there has been a high level of patient satisfaction with the holistic care NPs provide.
Enhancing primary clinical care capacity is essential to adapt to evolving needs and a changing health care landscape, with conditions that historically were managed in hospital now being managed through family medicine in the community.
“Toronto Western Family Health Team can serve as a great example for other clinics to observe the positive outcomes of NP-led care that are setting important precedents,” says Tara Bolden, UHN Nurse Practitioner Lead.