PIPD Update January 16, 2025

The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute is pleased to announce that registration is open for the upcoming virtual conference, Parenting Matters: Attachment, Lullabies, and the Power of Hope, taking place on February 10, 2026. This event is designed for parents, caregivers, and service providers who support families and are looking to deepen their understanding of children’s well-being.

 This year’s presentations include:

• Dr. Deborah MacNamara - The Wisdom of the Lullaby: More Than Just Singing Kids to Sleep
• Kathryn Goetzke - Raising Hope: The Science of Hope and How to Nurture It in Your Kids

 The conference fee is $40.00 per person. The full day will be recorded, and all registrants will receive a link to access the content for two weeks following the event.

For more information and to register, please visit the event page: https://skprevention.ca/event/parenting-matters-7/.

Charge Nurses - please remember to look on the whiteboard in the Charge Room for recently trained Obs and Chemo nurses. 

New hires will be starting buddy shifts this weekend. We are excited to have them join us!

CNE Update

New Year, New Learning! (Part 1)

PEWS: 

The updated/Provincial PEWS will go-live on February 10, 2026. The eLearning does not take long (20 min) and does teach about what is different from our current PEWS. Sound needed.

    Module: MATCHILD Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS)

    FAQ:

Why does oxygen saturation not factor into the scoring? The oxygen saturation does not affect the PEWS score. The Sp02 rates are your guide to know what the expected and normal amount of oxygen a patient should be based on age. The respiratory indicators are respiratory rate and accessory muscle use or retractions despite an expected Fi02 based on the child’s age. These indicators better identify a child at risk for deterioration. 

Why show expected Fi02 low flow rates by age? This is a reference for 30-40% Fi02 based on the child’s age and low flow delivery system. It will help to alert you to realize the child is more acutely ill if the oxygen exceeds these rates listed. For example, a 15 month old toddler on 2L nasal cannula with retractions would be receiving more that the expected 30-40% Fi02 for their age. They may require more oxygen flow, such as high flow nasal cannula if they continue to deteriorate.

What is the difference between accessory muscle use and retractions? Accessory muscles are activated when the child has increased airway resistance or reduced lung compliance. Activation of the accessory muscles aids in the child’s ability to enhance inspiratory and/or expiratory air flow. Accessory muscle use is often seen in the initial stages of increased work of breathing including: nasal flaring, abdominal muscle use, tripod position, and head bobbing. Retractions often become more visible with increased respiratory distress including: suprasternal, intercostal, substernal, subcostal, tracheal tug.

What does altered sleeping mean? This means the child is sleeping more than expected or not during a typical time of assessment such as during the day shift. It is expected that children wake from sleep or stir with vital signs and assessment. 

What are situational awareness factors? These are prompts that identify a pediatric patient as being at risk for deterioration. Some of the factors such as Patient/family/Caregiver Concern, Watcher Patient, Communication Breakdown and Unusual Therapy, may not always be present in the PEWS scoring but still highlight the need to be aware of the patient at risk for deterioration. 

Patient stable but continuing to score PEWS 3 or greater? The MRP can review the treatment plan and consider adjusting the parameters based on the patient specific condition. It is important to note that if the patient has any change in baseline, the new baseline is no longer followed and the patient is scored as if their baseline was a healthy normal zero. For example: New expected baseline of PEWS Score 3 for irritability and respiratory rate greater than 20 bpm but now the patient has a capillary refill of 4 seconds. With the change in patient condition having a delayed capillary refill, the patient would now score a PEWS of 5 as the baseline for behaviour and respiratory categories goes back to the original scoring.

New Year, New Learning! (Part 2) - coming soon!

New Year, New Learning! (Part 3) - coming soon!

New Year, New Learning! (Part 4) - coming soon!

From Sharon and Kelly, this is a long one - sorry.

Social Fund

Thanks to Carly for spearheading the social committee!  Cupboards and coffee mugs are full!! Send $20 to pipdsocials@gmail.com and join the PIPD Social Page for more info.  This is a lovely way to improve unit & staff morale.  Thank you so much Carly!

Who’s new in the zoo!

Fyi – Cindy Hamulas has started as the PICU manager.  She has experience both on peds and in PICU and has recently come from Heme/Onc.  We are excited to have her!

Assignments

Over the past weeks we have been tracking the process of the assignment sheets. We've gathered valuable insight and have been able to track the data we needed to understand the challenges behind assigning staff to workload.  We have identified areas where we can improve staffing, especially in areas like increasing the number of chemo and obs trained nurses.

Moving forward, we want to ensure there are clear roles and expectations for everyone involved.

Twila is the recorder of information, she gathers who is working and what our gaps are.

In the area of assigning staff, Charge Nurses are responsible to:

• Ensure there is an appropriate mix of junior and senior staff in each unit
• Make adjustments based on patient acuity and unit needs
• Consider assignments from the previous day; make changes when necessary or requested.
• Take staff accommodations into account
• Rotate staff through units, as applicable to their level
• If a break is missed for any reason (we hope this is rare), document these in the notes section on the assignment sheet.
• Review future days needs -  # staff and levels appropriate for needs and then effectively communicate to next CN/Managers

With this, we want to assure everyone that support is always available. If someone needs a break from a unit, a change in patient assignment, or has a short-notice accommodation, please speak with your charge nurse. If you prefer, Managers are also available to listen and support. Charge Nurses and Managers are the appropriate points of contact to address concerns and implement changes, and all requests will be addressed in a timely and efficient manner. Please reach out to Managers for support with questions/concerns/quality improvement ideas anytime.

Night Breaks

It has come to our attention that breaks are sometimes extending beyond 1.5 hours on nights. This can create challenges for staff remaining on the unit. In a 12-hour shift, staff are paid for one hour of breaks and receive an additional unpaid 30 minutes. To clarify, the total break time is 1.5 hours and should not exceed this amount.  No one nurse should be left in a unit alone for an extended period of time. Please respect these timelines for staff and patient safety.

From Ed days:

We now have new updated email lists. This blog as requested, will be sent via email to staff as well. If you do not see it, please let us know so we can update our email list as needed.

It is never our intention to use the playroom as a pt room. Over Christmas with staffing being very short, this was a challenge. Going forward the flex unit will be a priority area for us to use for pt. placement.  

Stairwell information (location name) will be placed on the EPP wall bins(clear bins) effective this week. We used the fire panel names to indicate which stairwell is in which unit so that it matches what the overhead announcement is calling out.

There was an overwhelming number of comments stating how much staff appreciated the teamwork on the ward. we wholeheartedly agree! Keep up the amazing work everyone, we can't do it without everyone here!

PYXIS PLEASE READ!

There are multiple outstanding narcotic discrepancies on our Pyxis stations.  Some of these date back as far as 129 days.  Discrepancies must be resolved at the end of every shift.  These records must be accurate to align with Health Canada legal requirements. This is very important.

Safety Reporting:

On February 1, 2026, Saskatoon will use just the Safety Reporting System for electronic incident reporting. The Safety Centre phone lines will be available to report verbally from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. 

Promotion and education on how to use the Safety Reporting System for both staff and leaders is available online: Patient Safety Incident Reporting.

Fall Preventions:

Effective January 13, 2026, two new Acute Care Clinical Procedures have been implemented to support fall prevention and injury reduction across the province – one for inpatient settings and one for outpatient settings. The procedures, supporting documents, forms, and staff education, will standardize the Fall Prevention and Injury Reduction Program across all Saskatchewan Health Authority acute care sites; and will replace all existing fall prevention policies, work standards, and related documents currently in use within acute care settings.

 Fall Prevention and Injury Reduction Program Acute Care - Inpatient [Training Document] | Policy and Clinical Standards Document Finder | Saskatchewan Health Authority

RT info

If you want to get a hold of the Outpatient RT (Liz or Kirsti) via vocera,  call “Peds Outpatient Respiratory Therapist, not the individual’s name. Whoever is available out of the two of us will answer.. If you need Liz or Krista directly, then the work cell is the best way to get a hold of them.

Meal delivery

Theres a change in the method used to mark patient room doors when meal trays are delivered. Food Service Workers (FSWs) will place a check mark on the door at the time of tray delivery instead of writing the time. The check mark will indicate that a tray has been delivered to that room. The tray pickup process itself remains unchanged. Pickup staff will continue to use the door markings to identify rooms for tray collection. If nursing staff remove trays from patient rooms, we kindly ask that the check mark be erased from the door after the tray is removed to prevent any confusion.

Individual Client Risk Assessment Program coming March 1, 2026

Why It Matters:

Hundreds of SHA providers have experienced violent acts with many obtaining

traumatic physical, psychological and emotional harm. Working with potentially

violent or assaultive individuals is a reality in healthcare.

What We’re Doing:

Under the law, providers have the right to be told about risks of harm and how to work safely.

The SHA must ensure that risks are identified and “take every precaution reasonable in the

circumstances for the protection of a worker”. The ICRA was designed to meet these

Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) legislative requirements.

What It Means:

The ICRA Program is coming to your care area. It is easily integrated into the work your team is

already doing. The goals of the ICRA Program include:

Ensuring clinical providers can identify client behaviours associated with a risk of violence,

and confidently assess the degree of risk.

Supporting providers to apply control interventions based on the degree of risk that promote

provider, client and public safety, as well as ensure client-centered care.

Ensuring staff have access to the information they need to stay safe and work safely, including

an awareness of risk and client specific triggers / contributing factors to help prevent

escalation.

Keeping the client and family involved and encouraging them to identify strategies that may

help the client to maintain or regain control over their behaviour so they may safely participate

in care.

Ensuring staff are supported after violent and distressing incidents.

Empowering staff to participate in safety reporting and continuous improvement efforts

Our family

Lots of happy patients in the hallway!  Families are so grateful for their care here and we want to make sure you know that.  Thank you!