Surveyors congratulate home on best practices
‘There will be a very positive effect for staff and residents’
Friday March 14, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Burnbrae Gardens’ administrator and director of care Susan Cymbaluk says the Campbellford long-term care home’s recent accreditation assessment provided an opportunity for the home to showcase its best practices.

From March 3-7, surveyors from the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA) visited 16 of OMNI’s 17 long-term care homes as part of the company’s corporate accreditation process. CCHSA surveyors visited Burnbrae Gardens on March 4.

The purpose of accreditation is to ensure that organizations continuously evaluate, improve and report their success and growth.

While each of OMNI’s homes has been independently accredited in the past, this is the first time the company has sought corporate accreditation.

“I think it was an excellent way to validate what we do and (to look at) our plan of care and how we do quality assurance to make sure we are giving the best quality of care,” says Cymbaluk, adding that monthly meetings ensure the home is checking every area of the plan of care to ensure performance is top notch.

Cymbaluk says the surveyors were impressed with the home for engaging all departments in stressing the importance of best practices.

The only group surveyors met with independently was the home’s best practice team. The rest of the assessment was done by touring the home and talking to families, frontline staff, the life enrichment department and nutritional care personnel.

This was a different approach than used in previous accreditation assessments, notes Cymbaluk, adding the surveyors felt the home was hitting the mark when it came to providing the best quality of care to residents.

“(The surveyors) felt that we were doing an excellent job in regards to our best practices,” she says.

Rosie Coppens, the home’s office manager and nursing administrative services manager attended the best practices segment of the assessment. The best practices component examined how staff members interact with head office and how reports are submitted.

Role definition, the importance of safety, performance appraisals and interaction with resident and family councils were other areas where best practices were assessed.

“The staff was very positive. The surveyor went around and talked to the staff members individually for most of the day, and I think there will be a very positive effect for staff and residents as well,” says Coppens.

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