RBWH wins national quality improvement award

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) has won a national Australian Council of Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Quality Improvement Award at the 2017 ACHS/ACHSM Joint Congress.

The Kidney Supportive Care—our patients, our care program took out the Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety Award for its work with patients with advanced kidney disease who require complex healthcare decision-making.

RBWH Director Kidney Health Service Dr Helen Healy said the program was developed to support patients facing hard decisions about their chronic kidney disease.

“At the same time patients with advanced chronic kidney disease have a significant number of physical and psychosocial symptoms to manage, which can be both physically and emotionally distressing,” Dr Healy said.

“They experience poor health outcomes and have higher healthcare costs due to the treatment and care they require.

“We developed the Kidney Supportive Care program to bring the supportive care skills of the palliative care experts in the program to all patients and their families facing these distresses.

“The program educates and coaches our patients, their families and carers on patients’ preferences, expectations and decisions about their health care, as well as how it will be delivered, in line with patients’ choices and values.

“We’ve seen strong acceptance of the program since it began with both patients and carers highly satisfied with the support and care they received. The program has had tremendous support from clinicians and our executive.”

Over 190 patients have been through the program. The Kidney Health Service is now looking to take the program into more community locations, making for easier patient access. Planning for a site north of the Pine Rivers is under way and the Kidney Supportive Care team is going mobile across Metro North.

The Quality Improvement Awards showcase practical innovations that challenge standard practices using creative problem solving. One of three hospitals across Australia to win an award, and the only Queensland winner, RBWH is recognised as a leader and innovator in healthcare.