Ensuring Quality of Care

Quality is a company wide responsibility, owned by all of Paces’ internal stakeholders including leadership, administration, and therapists. It relates to all aspects of the organization from direct client care to operations. Pace engages in specific and continuous activities in order to improve quality:

Accreditation
Pace is accredited by the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA). In our recent accreditation we were applauded for our accomplishments in areas such as:

Comprehensive Quality Management System
Our Quality Management System is based on three critical domains:

Risk Identification and Management
We have a system that enables Pace to identify risks to our clients, the organization and the community and to effectively respond. The data we collect allows us to plan for improvements in therapist practice, organizational procedures, and the broader healthcare environment. For example, our risk management system has identified, for the last two years that clients’ were at greatest risk for falls. We are currently working with a national safety agency on risk reduction in this area.

Ongoing Improvement
We have mechanisms in place to identify areas that will benefit clients such as Chart Audits, Client Satisfaction Surveys, and Associate and Staff Satisfaction Surveys. We engage in research with external partners so that clients everywhere can benefit from service improvements. For example, Pace was a participant in the Welcome Home Kids Study out of McMaster University looking at the functional outcomes, perceptions of care and cost of Occupational Therapy Services for children.

Resource Management
At Pace we have a comprehensive and effective associate selection, orientation and mentoring system. We have implemented a successful associate performance feedback system that includes key indicator statistics.

Policies and Procedures
Pace has policies and procedures that ensure both quality and efficiency in service provision. Therapists are included in the preparation of these policies in order to make them user-friendly and relevant.

Peer Support and Communication
Pace fosters an open working environment, providing opportunities for interaction and networking. Our many therapists have significant expertise and are available on a consultant basis for colleague support. They meet regularly to share best practices and develop service delivery improvements.

Monitoring The Progress Of Treatment
Pace therapists continually assess the effectiveness of interventions. Visits are made in a timely fashion to monitor client progression toward achievement of goals. Therapists frequently communicate with the client, their family and other professionals to facilitate coordination of client care.

Outcome Evaluation
Pace has embarked on a long-term initiative to evaluate outcomes of intervention for each Discipline. We believe that this will strengthen our commitment to continuously improve interventions, and to demonstrate the quality of our services.

Commitment To Research and Training
Pace provides information and opportunities for therapists to increase their knowledge and skill. We continually seek opportunities to engage in research in order to improve the outcomes for clients in a cost and time effective manner.