Celebrating our greatest strength
People are at the heart of Toronto Rehab’s success. Each and every individual associated with this institution contributes, in his or her own unique way to the patient experience. Toronto Rehab has become a leader in the development and delivery of top notch adult rehabilitation, complex continuing care and long-term care because of the skills, expertise and unwavering commitment and excellence of our clinicians, physicians, researchers, educators, volunteers and support staff. They are the reason patients consistently tell us they would recommend us to family and friends.

From the clinicians who provide care at the bedside to the administrative and support staff who work behind the scenes, it takes cohesive teamwork to deliver the complex level of care we provide through our seven clinical programs.  We take pride in helping our staff to realize their full potential while also embracing the respective roles they each play as pivotal members of the Toronto Rehab team.

Our compelling vision to improve the lives of those affected by disabling illness and injury, as well as a dynamic learning environment, a focus on workplace health and excellence, and our access to innovative models in the delivery of continuing professional development are among the many factors that continue to help attract the best and brightest to Toronto Rehab.  
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Exploring new ways to advance learning
With rehabilitation science continually on the cusp of new advances that promote an enhanced quality of life for those recovering from and living with the residual impairments of serious injury or illness, we are committed to making sure our staff have access to timely education so that our patients can quickly reap the benefits of these advances. While still in its infancy, our e-learning strategy is destined to help us in this regard by providing staff with access to the learning resources that will allow them to improve their skills and knowledge from anywhere at any time. With a back-end management system now in place, we will soon have the ability to profoundly impact the way people learn. Future developments include online courses and resource materials.

This past year also saw the launch of our continuing professional development (CPD) strategy. Specialized competency profiles were developed for all professions to articulate the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to support excellence in patient care for our unique patient populations. Priority areas for professional development were identified and advanced. Among them were advancing practice in the area of visual, perceptual and cognitive assessments, the assessment and management of hemiplegic shoulder pain, clinical nutrition for chronic wound healing, the development of a spiritual care intervention tool and the development of a standardized practice for videofluoroscopy assessment.

Great leadership is instrumental in helping us to transform our vision of improving lives into a reality. That’s why we seek every opportunity to help our staff grow into our leaders of tomorrow. It’s evident from employee survey feedback that we are blessed with a team of passionate and driven individuals who truly want to make a difference in the lives of others. Embracing that enthusiasm, we invited 20 employees with leadership potential to participate in our Future Leaders program last fall, where they attended leadership workshops and honed their skills through learning plans, career planning and special assignments. Managers and directors received coaching to further support participating staff in developing their leadership potential.

We also continue to send small groups of managers to the eight-month leadership development program developed by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and University Health Network. In an environment that is constantly evolving to better address the needs of our patients, strong leadership is essential to help manage that process.
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Delivering employee support programs that work
Every three years, we survey our employees to better understand how we can support their efforts to deliver the best possible quality of care to our patients. The feedback we receive helps shape our employee programs. We know that if we want to attract the best and the brightest to Toronto Rehab, we have to create a work environment that is conducive to generating high employee satisfaction. Apparently, we’re on the right track. Our employees give Toronto Rehab high marks as an employer. It’s also rewarding to know that physicians feel the same way. In a recent physician satisfaction survey involving 23 Ontario hospitals, Toronto Rehab was the top performer in nine out of 12 areas including leadership, patient support, teamwork/respect and physician involvement.

Among the areas employees praise at Toronto Rehab is our ability to effectively communicate the organization’s strategic directions and operating plan priorities. According to our annual internal communications survey, satisfaction with our corporate communications rose to 90.5 per cent, up by more than 5 percent over the previous year. Managers were also applauded for providing employees with the information needed to do their jobs.
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Promoting a safe and healthy workplace
At Toronto Rehab, we believe a healthy workforce is integral to the quality of care we provide for our patients. With this in mind, we expanded our employee wellness program to include a number of new initiatives including a lunch-and-learn series focused on wellness education, a wellness newsletter, and annual wellness events addressing high blood pressure and sun exposure. Other newly implemented staff wellness initiatives include a Weight Watchers program and physical activity events involving walking and stair climbing.

These initiatives are generating positive results. Our average overall absence rate fell significantly to 8.22 days per full-time employee last year, placing us well below the Ontario Hospital Association's benchmark of 10.37 days set in 2006/07. 
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Attracting nurses to Toronto Rehab
While Toronto Rehab welcomed success in the recruitment and retention of nurses last year, we know that a looming nursing shortage will challenge our ability to continue attracting a talented nursing pool. With this situation expected to persist for another 10 years, we are actively developing a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy to ensure our patients continue to benefit from the professional support of these dedicated professionals.

Our people are the backbone behind every patient care, research and educational initiative we undertake. Building upon that strength, we will use the next year to expand our e-learning strategy, take steps to  further strengthen employee engagement, focus on attracting and retaining top talent, develop a new recruitment and retention strategy, strive to improve the health, safety and wellness of all employees, and build leadership capacity to sustain us as a leading-edge organization.
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