Success Stories
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Happier Healthcare
Taken from Access HamiltonSchool program at Hamilton Health Sciences is producing skilled, enthusiastic hospital staff
A nationwide shortage of healthcare professionals has prompted hospitals to find new ways to attract people to the field. Hospitals need more than doctors and nurses. Widespread concern about infection control, in the wake of SARS and C. Difficile, has increased the need for skilled support staff well trained in hospital hygiene practices.
When Hamilton Health Sciences approached the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board about creating a high school co-op program in 2004, HHS identified two important Health Care Support Worker roles that would be a great introduction to a potential career in healthcare: Environmental Aide and Porter.
At that time, James Braun was in high school and had “no clue” what his career path would be. A lot has happened in four years. Today, Braun is a regular part-time Environmental Aide in the Labour and Delivery ward at McMaster hospital and is clear on his direction: a future in nursing. He credits his Grade 11 teacher, who convinced him to apply for the Health Care Support Worker program.
The program is one of several co-op programs offered by the board that help employers identify and train potential employees. This particular program consists of two and a half months of learning in a classroom and skills lab housed at Hamilton Health Sciences, and another two and a half months of real work experience, completing Co-op placements at all five HHS sites.
“This is not just filing and watching,” says Teresa Anziano, who teaches the program on the hospital premises. “The students interact with patients and learn various roles in the hospital.” Students learn, and can later apply for jobs as Environmental Aide or Porter.
Environmental aides are responsible for creating a clean, comfortable, caring environment for patients. “They are normally assigned to one particular clinical unit, cleaning the rooms and washrooms and delivering meal trays,” says Kathryn McInnes-Adams, Service Excellence Coach with the Customer Support Services Department at Hamilton Health Sciences. “They also have a service excellence function to make sure patients are comfortable and cared for.”
Before getting his steady job as an Environmental Aide, Braun started as an on-call Porter. “I transported patients, blood specimens, food, everything,” he says. Working on call was a great stepping-stone because it gave him the chance to work all over the hospital. “It’s great experience. At this point I’m trained in every ward, every critical care area.”
In school, the students practice these skills in a simulated hospital unit. If they’re successful in seeking employment with the hospital, they attend regular employee orientation and review all of those skills again. New hires then train for an additional three days in the clinical environment with a preceptor, a hospital staff member responsible for making sure the new hire is competent in all required skills.
“Making the transition from learner to employee is a big leap, and we have an obligation to make sure that our staff are competent before they work with patients in an unsupervised way,” says McInnes-Adams.
Hamilton Health Sciences has used the Healthcare Support Worker program to hire all of their summer and occasional help in 2008, accessing former and current students of the program. McInnes-Adams is thrilled with how the young hires are working out. Besides meeting the hospital’s high standards for quality service, she says, they have a great attitude that’s infectious.
“These students come to us excited, and they excite our staff as well,” she says. “They infuse a little bit of youth and enthusiasm and are a bit of a reminder perhaps that it is an important role to be in support services in a hospital.”
Braun, she says, is a shining example of that. “It warms my heart. Every now and again I’ll see a little note from a clinical unit, complimenting him on his work ethic and how good he is with the patients.”