Skip to main content

Improving essential conversations in long-term care

In a setting like long-term care, it’s never too early for communication about one’s serious illness, but it can be too late. Research tells us that essential conversations in long-term care are not happening early enough, often enough, nor are they going deep enough.

Essential conversations are often associated with improved end-of-life care for residents as well as reduced stress, depression, and anxiety for their surviving loved ones.

The Quality Improvement Condensed (QUIC) Toolkit is an essential resource for those working in long-term care (LTC) homes, designed to improve the quality and frequency of these important conversations with residents and their substitute decision makers.

Goal of the toolkit

This toolkit supports those working in long-term care facilities to improve essential conversations with residents and their substitute decision makers.

  • This toolkit is designed to be used by leaders and interdisciplinary team members on the frontline, palliative care teams and anyone else who is passionate about incorporating the palliative care approach into long-term care.
  • The steps outlined in this QUIC will help guide you through all phases of your quality improvement project.
  • This toolkit includes examples throughout that are relevant to essential conversations in the context of long-term care.
  • Helpful resources are included such as evidence-based screening tools, communication templates and templates to help you succeed in employing quality improvement and project management methodologies.

What is a QUIC?

This Quality Improvement Condensed (QUIC) toolkit is part of a broader collection of QUIC toolkits that help you make small and scalable changes in your practice.

  • Quality improvement (QI) is a systematic, iterative, and formal approach that involves analyzing practice performance and making efforts to improve performance.
  • These QUICs are free to use and are designed to go hand in hand with one another.
  • These toolkits use the Model for Improvement (MFI) of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). It consists of three key questions and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. You may use other approaches that you are more acquainted with or feel would be more appropriate.
  • These toolkits provide a step-by-step approach to undertaking palliative care related quality improvement (QI) initiatives in your practice.

Toolkit development

This QUIC was developed by Pallium Canada and a core group of subject matter experts. They collaborated, receiving input and feedback, from a pan-Canadian community of practice, the Long-Term Care Quality Improvement Community of Practice, made up of 97 members from across Canada and professions – all with a shared passion for integrating a palliative care approach in long-term care.

Learn moreLearn moreLearn more

Download the free toolkit

Fill out the form below to access our free toolkit!

Consent
Image

This QUIC is designed to go hand-in-hand with our QUIC: Identify Patients with Palliative Care Needs and Develop a Practice Palliative Care Register.

Image

Ready to connect with leaders and experts in palliative care? Join the Palliative Care ECHO Project.

Stay connected with Pallium Canada to get the latest resources, tools and news updates.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest resources, tools and news updates.

© 2024 Pallium Canada. All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy

Close Menu