PIPD Update January 2, 2026

🎉🎉 Happy 2026! 🎉🎉

Happy New Year!!!

Thank you to everyone that helped make Christmas season staffing more manageable, we so appreciate your teamwork and flexibility.

Thank you to everyone for all your hard work, professionalism, teamwork and commitment to patient care throughout 2025. It does not go unnoticed!

Night staff please ensure you are cleaning up after yourselves in the staff breakroom- dirty dishes in the sink and left out food invite critters in to the space and we all want to avoid that. Thank you

Please ensure you are checking all labs and specimens are labelled correctly with right patient, right req and right specimen. This helps alleviates frustration and rework for staff and more importantly, unnecessarily redrawing of samples on pt’s.

 New orientees and students starting next week!

It’s virus season and Hand Hygiene is the focus of the month. Alicia will start to make the rounds with yearly hand hygiene audits.

We do have some under 120 days positions due to new staff orientating, please reach out to Kelly or Sharon if you are interested.

We have new Jan dates for FIT testing. Please see huddle board for those.

Please be sure to review the SUN annual vacation rules and FAQ before submitting your annual vacation requests. This helps alleviate frustration for all involved. You will notice that there is a shift for everyone marked “AVB” on June 30^th, this is a placeholder for vacation submissions, it will be removed once vacation is processed. 

CNE Update

Hemocatheters - did you know: Hemocaths can only be used by certified RNs? PIPD staff are not certified to care for or access/lock Hemocaths. SHA Provincial Policy also states that a Hemodialysis Catheter is for dialysis only and not to be accessed for IV use (antibiotics, TPN, IV fluid). It is not the same as a true Central Line/CVAD.
    What do I do if my patient has a hemocath? Ask the H.D. RN or PICU to lock/change dressing as needed.

    What if a doctor writes an order for me to administer medications through/use a hemocath? Ask PICU or H.D. to assist. It is not within your scope and an order doesn't allow for you to work outside your scope. 

Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines - use the Transmission Based Precaution Table to confirm type of precaution/PPE needed for patient illness. Here is the quick guide:

Always do your Point of Care Risk Assessment (POCRA) before going into any room. This may change the level of precautions/PPE use.

Ex: Pertussis infant à Table lists as “Droplet” à POCRA tells me I will be holding the patient/ touching patient environment so I will follow “Droplet/Contact” Precautions.

Ostomy & Wound Referral - The Ostomy and Wound Team has been/will continue running on reduced staffing over the holidays. Please continue to enter in referrals for Ostomy or Wound but anticipate potential delays in response time until after the holidays.

Monograph Updates: because 1600 calls/letting a CNE know really can make a change

CefTRIAXone - Peds IM dose information moved up to the pediatric dose section

New Year, New Learning! (Part 1)

PEWS - the updated Provincial version of PEWS will go-live February 10, 2026. There is some learning to complete - MyConnection Module: MATCHILD Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS).

We are working on getting the new cards for your lanyards and will hand them out when we have them.

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