Iris Publishers- Open access Journal of Nursing & Care| Louis Brier Home and Hospital Rapid Improvement Events: Kaizen and 5S

Authored by  Tazim Esmail

A public long-term care facility serving Vancouver’s Jewish community, funded by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, and supported by the Jewish Foundation. The Louis Brier Home and Hospital offers resident and family centered care. Many programs and services are offered: nursing, dietary and food services, rehabilitation, recreation, companion and volunteer to name a few.  Louis Brier’s vision and mission are aimed at providing the best care possible to its residents while striving to be recognized as a Center of Excellence in elder care. Achieving accreditation status was one of the milestones set by the board and the leadership team of Louis Brier, however it is just the start. In order to achieve culture change, engage in continuous quality improvement, and engage in innovation and creativity, the leadership team in collaboration with the board decided to apply the principles and framework of LEAN to the everyday work and activities at Louis Brier. Together with external experts, we embarked on our LEAN journey rolled out our first Kaizen and 5S events throughout the months of September and October. “One approach to continuous, incremental improvement is called kaizen. It originated in Japan and the word translates to mean change (kai) for the good (zen).”¹ Our first Kaizen event took place during the week of June 25th to 29th, 2018; focusing on the Nursing Model of Care. This was a five-day event, led by an experienced Lean Sensei Michael Elias. This a Rapid Improvement Event that included heavy engagement by front line staff and leadership. The purpose was to radically and permanently improve processes to enhance the resident experience. The event included three weeks of preparation and three months of follow up and sustainability.Senior leadership and managers empowered frontline staff to make “subtle, on-going changes and continuous improvement”,² to the Nursing Model of Care. We trialed a new way of delivering care to our residents team -based approach. We identified gaps in our process, work-flow and communication tools. We addressed the issues in real time. The project addressed the continuous complaints of heavy workload, low morale, lack of teamwork / communication and inconsistency of work amongst nursing unit. We worked towards achieving a team-based approach, maintaining licensing standards, addressing inconsistencies in practice as well as, adhering to Work Safe BC regulations.

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