New Partnership at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital Aims to Enhance Patient Safety and Reduce Workplace Injuries

Published On: March 2, 2022

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) has partnered with ARJO Diligent Clinical Consultants to launch a program aimed at enhancing the safety of patients and team members.

Through the ARJO Diligent Program, trained mobility coaches will work collaboratively with teams at STEGH to provide a customized program to establish areas of potential improvement, assist with the implementation of solutions and measure program outcomes.

Six tailored sessions will be offered throughout the year, and topics will be decided based on ongoing assessments and staff feedback.

“This partnership will allow us to provide staff with the tools they need to do their jobs safely at an optimum level,” says Courtney Carroll, Safety Specialist at STEGH. “We will use the results of the assessment and investigation to determine how staff safety incidents can be prevented from reoccurring in the future.”

“Evidence based safety practices are crucial to positive patient care experiences,” says Karen Riddell, Vice President, People and Safety. “We are elevating our safety systems, which in turn reduces the risk of falls and infections, length of stay, readmissions, as well as the risk of musculoskeletal injuries among staff.”

According to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the single greatest risk factor for overexertion injuries in health care is the manual lifting, moving and repositioning of patients.

“Our patients place trust in our ability to do our job well,” says Vicky Kazmer, Physiotherapist at STEGH. “This program will allow us to get our patients mobile sooner, and do so in a way that we can feel confident about our safety. It’s a win-win.”

Research shows that close to one-third of falls can be prevented by managing a patient’s underlying fall risk factors and optimizing a hospital’s physical design and environment.