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Our programs

As part of our designation as The Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI), Baycrest offers innovative educational initiatives and resources for Ontario long-term care homes to engage care teams and students in cultures of learning and to integrate evidence-informed approaches to care.
 
The Ontario CLRI at Baycrest offers 4 main programs:

  • Team Essentials: Leading Practices for Long-Term Care

    Quality care and safety in LTC depend on teams that are proactive, reflective, and collaborative.

    Team Essentials is a set of experiential workshops, eLearning courses, follow-up visits, and leadership coaching that provide innovative educational solutions for LTC team members around priority issues in LTC.

    Team Essentials program is based on leading practices; Experiential, team-based learning and interprofessional competencies are integrated into the program in order to encourage discovery, critical thinking, communication, and solution-focused team responses.

    The five modules include:

    Preventing Acute Deterioration

    The target learners are Personal Support Workers, Registered Practical Nurses, and Registered Nurses. This module enables staff to recognize and communicate changes in resident condition through the use of the Sensory Observation System (SOS) and SBAR techniques. Staff will learn how to apply this system to common clinical scenarios and to transfer this learning to their daily practice setting. Anticipated outcomes include enhanced information sharing, enriched appreciation for role interdependency and prevention of unnecessary emergency transfers. Contact us for more info!

     

    Coordinating Care for Responsive Behaviours

    The target learners are Personal Support Workers, Registered Practical Nurses, Registered Nurses and Allied Health Professions. This module enables teams to recognize and communicate responsive behaviours through the use of the Sensory Observation System (SOS) and SBAR techniques. Principles of team-based coordination for responsive behaviours include: objectivity, specificity and descriptiveness, risk assessment, self-reflection, strategizing, monitoring, debriefing and team competencies. Staff will learn how to apply this to common clinical scenarios and to transfer this learning to their daily practice setting. Anticipated outcomes include improved understanding and ability to reflect on a resident-centered approach to care and enhanced information sharing and care coordination within the team. Contact us for more info!

     

    Engaging Families in Care

    The target learners are Personal Support Workers, Nurses, Allied Health Professions and Unit Clerks. This module enables staff to actively listen, recognize and respond to family concerns through customer service principles and emotional regulation. Staff will gain skill in reflection, using SBAR and in applying principles of team-based family reporting including: relational centeredness, proactivity, objectivity, specificity and descriptiveness, risk assessment, confidentiality, responsiveness and team collaboration and communication competencies. Staff will learn how to apply this to common scenarios of family/staff interaction and to transfer this learning to their daily practice setting. Anticipated outcomes include improved collaboration and engagement with families, improved ability to assess the effectiveness of chosen responses to family concerns, and enhanced information sharing and support within teams, which include families. Contact us for more info!

     

    Enhancing Collaboration and Shared Values

    The target learners are Personal Support Workers, Nurses, Allied Health Professions, Unit Clerks and Support Services Staff. This module is grounded in an applied theatre approach which uses experiential, process-based exercises to help participants develop transferable skills such as communication, active listening, body language and empathy. This module offers staff an opportunity to enhance personal growth and communication skills as a foundation for acquiring competencies in interprofessional collaborative practice such as: relational-centered care, empathy, communication, perspective taking and power dynamics. Staff will gain skills and explore new ways of being related to non-verbal communication, body language, listening and reading cues, emotional temperature and group process. Through facilitated reflection and debriefing staff will transfer this learning to their work settings. Anticipated outcomes include greater attunement to the nuances and dynamics of communication, enhanced self-reflection, psychological rejuvenation and renewed appreciation for the humanistic elements of care and team relationships. Contact us for more info!
     

    Reference Guide for Learners: Team Essentials for Preventing Acute Deterioration
    Prepared by the Baycrest Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long Term Care. This reference guide was designed for staff and student healthcare providers who have participated in Team Essentials – Leading Practices for Long-Term Care: Preventing Acute Deterioration. The purpose is to help long-term care healthcare providers recognize, prioritize, reflect and respond to acute changes in the health status of residents. Being more attuned to the changing needs of frail elders will improve the care provided and the resident-provider relationship.

  • Summer internships

    We offer summer fellowships for students in the health professions to help encourage Ontario’s future geriatric leaders. These internships offer undergraduate health students opportunities to gain knowledge and experience in a variety of long-term healthcare settings. Interns actively participate in small group learning focused on aging, clinical issues in geriatrics and gerontology, evaluation techniques and team competencies.

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  • Educational research and innovation
    The Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) at Baycrest has been developing, exploring and evaluating the use of innovative educational approaches such as simulation, standardized patients, gamification, applied theatre, visual thinking strategies and arts-based learning. Educational research projects include development and evaluation of applied theatre to enhance team competencies in long-term care; eSimulation and gamification to develop an eLearning App; and, the delivery of a blended learning Medical Directors Curriculum for long-term care.