CHSLD: communication is crucial

The context

• A woman lived in residential and long-term care centre (CHSLD). She wore incontinence briefs that were changed either by her informal caregiver or by the healthcare team.
• The informal caregiver often noticed that the skin under the briefs was red. Moreover, when the briefs were changed, the woman seemed to be in pain.

The complaint

The informal caregiver felt that the women should not be feeling discomfort. She complained to the Protecteur du citoyen.

What our investigation showed

• The woman did indeed have skin redness. These sores had not been treated correctly because the healthcare teams did not communicate with each other properly. Given this, the staff were hard pressed to know about how to treat the sores and when.
• Furthermore, the informal caregiver was not well informed about what had been done to treat the sores. That is why she lost confidence in the staff.

The outcome

he Protecteur du citoyen intervened with the CIUSSS responsible for the care and services delivered by the CHSLD. Since then, the institution has improved the means of communication between the healthcare teams. Training is also offered to the managers, who can therefore better engage with families and create trust with them.

Now the informal caregiver talks regularly with the person in charge of the healthcare teams.