Korero Hauora Health Talk - Taranaki District Health Board

Time to CareBy Kareen McLeod, Nurse Educator- Releasing Time To Care Co-ordinatorReleasing Time to Care (RTTC) – the productive ward was developed originally by theEnglish National Health Service (NHS). The main aim of the programme is to createtime in the normal nursing working day so nurses can increase the time they havefor direct patient care, improving safety, efficiency and reliability of care provided topatients.RTTC is made up of 12 modules consisting of three foundation modules Know HowWe Are Doing (KHWD), Well Organised Ward (WOW) and Patient Status at a Glance(PSAG), and nine process modules which the wards all work through under thedirection of the Nurse Manager and support from the RTTC coordinator.RTTC programme started at TDHB in January 2011 with the appointment of a RTTCcoordinator. During 2011 three departments have started the RTTC programme. Eachtime a ward starts the programme all staff including nursing, administration, HCAand allied staff (where applicable) attend a launch day where they are given a briefintroduction about the foundation modules, they are encouraged to share potentialsuggestions for their ward and register an interest in which foundation module theywould like to be a part of.The showcase ward (first ward to start the programme) was the acute surgical ward,Ward 3 who launched in April. Ward 4 followed in July and ICU in November.As part of the KHWD module the ward creates a performance board to display graphsfrom four key measures which include patient safety, staff wellbeing, efficiency of careand patient satisfaction. These boards are updated monthly for most audits and dailyfor the patient safety measures. Each board reflects the uniqueness and creativity ofthe staff and the ward.Below left: ICU study dayBelow middle: Ward Three’s board.Below right: Ward Four’s board.362011 Korero Hauora - Health Talk