Hospital receives top rating

After a rigorous testing process, the Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre (KMHC) has achieved the highest possible rating from Accreditation Canada, the second time in a row that the organization has received such a distinction.

“We’re pleased, we’re excited, and we’re thankful to our staff for helping us get here,” said KMHC executive director Valerie Diabo.

The hospital was accredited with “exemplary standing” following Accreditation Canada’s examination, which took place during November and December last year. The standing is the highest possible accreditation, recognizing only health institutions that exceed 100 per cent of the required practices and high-level safety standards outlined by the organization.

The accreditation process works on a four-year cycle, with the last examination in 2021 also seeing KMHC reach exemplary standing. The previous two grades were in 2017 and 2013, where the organization was accredited “with commendation,” the second-highest rating.

Examiners gave positive feedback about the maintenance of the wards and buildings.

“They always comment on how clean our hospital is, they always leave here saying they’ve never seen a hospital as clean as ours,” said Diabo.

KMHC associate executive director Mendy Sananikone also highlighted the examiner’s comments about work culture at the hospital.

“A very clear comment through the report that they’ve given is how proud and committed and dedicated the staff is, and that actually is probably the best comment you could ever receive, because it really speaks on the culture of how staff not only are treating our patients with respect, but they’re treating them like family members,” she said.

“It’s palpable how different it is to have the care offered here at KMHC versus something else in another hospital.”

Staff were already prepared for the few areas of potential improvement highlighted in the report – one example being the need to have more evaluation processes for services long-term.

“That’s something that we’ve already put in our action plan for the upcoming year,” Sananikone said.

The accreditation process includes evaluations over the entire four-year cycle, but the in-person examination sees representatives from Accreditation Canada visit the hospital in person and physically examine the space. Examiners also speak directly with staff, patients, and families of patients to get a holistic understanding of the kind of care being offered.

Staff from all areas of the hospital are questioned on topics including health and safety and best practices, to ensure quality of care is consistent across the board.

“It’s really our staff that got us this standing, not us, not the board, not the executive team,” said Kim Martin, chairperson of KMHC’s board of directors. “To be able to have the direct knowledge from our staff being posed those questions and for them to provide those answers is why we’ve achieved exemplary standing.”

The score shows that the hospital is putting into practice the values it outlines in its strategic planning, Sananikone said.

“I think it speaks volumes to show that there’s a comprehensive link between what’s done on paper and what’s done in practice, because that’s essentially what they’re assessing, does what we do on the floor with direct care with our patients really reflect our structure, processes, and policies that exist,” she said. “They want to know that there’s structures to support patient safety within the whole organization.”

Evaluators speak with focus groups to understand KMHC’s care processes, as well as examine audits, meeting agendas, written protocols, policies and procedures, and performance data.

KMHC administrative staff also give presentations outlining the decisions they’ve made and services offered, and other staff members participated in the interview portion of the process, answering questions on-the-go to give perspective on whether staff practices match hospital policies.

The last part of the examination process is where evaluators examine evidence, physically walking around KMHC and observing safety markers, such as ensuring fire extinguishers are up to grade, that medication is secured, and that housekeeping carts are locked if unattended.

To achieve such a high score in all sections of the examination is reassuring that the long-term vision of KMHC is headed in the right direction, Martin said.

“It shows the level of credibility that we have,” Martin said.

Being a well-respected health institution could open doors in future, she said.

“Coming from an hospital that has this standing in an Indigenous community really does speak volumes. Will it end up getting us a little bit more money or maybe opportunities? Anything is possible,” she said. “It really shows that we put our money where our mouth is, we’re doing the work to get this kind of assessment level.”

Diabo emphasized that good grades are motivators, and that staff won’t get complacent, instead using the feedback to continue growing KMHC’s capabilities.

“This accreditation keeps us going and we’re always improving, improving, improving,” she said. “Even though this is the highest we can get and we’re very proud of that, we’re always looking at opportunities to grow, expand, and improve our services.”

In the near future, KMHC staff intend to compile feedback from the report for community members to access online. Also in the coming weeks, KMHC is also asking the community to fill out an online survey and give feedback on hospital programming by March 21 – the link for the survey can be found on KMHC’s social media channels.

KMHC is also looking for focus group participants to share their thoughts on the direction for the hospital proposed by the board of directors – to participate in these groups, email [email protected].

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