Page 77 - HA Convention 2016 [Abstracts (Day 2)]

Service Enhancement Presentations HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2016

F7.4 Committed and Happy Staff 13:15 Room 421

Staff Wellness Programme in Small Team Approach to Engage Oncology Nursing Team in Clinical Oncology
Department of Queen Mary Hospital
Kong KH, Lai K, Wong ST, Tsang HW, Ng CW, Wong YM, Leung SY, Wan SY, Yeung SM, Cheung YH, Kwok KS, Cheung WC,
Wang HY, Leung YC, Wong PY, Chung MY
Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Introduction

Nursing and supporting staff in the Clinical Oncology Department (COD) are prone to have high job stress and depression. In
view of the high turnover rate for nurses and supporting staff over the years, a staff engagement programme using small team
approach was implemented in 2015 to promote their commitment and wellness.

Objectives

Developing strategies to improve staff morale by boosting staff wellness and increasing staff cohesiveness with better staff
communication.

Methodology

(1) Formation of the “Staff Wellness” and “Staff Communication” small teams. (2) Evaluation of the programme and staff
participation. (3) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the teams through staff satisfaction survey. (4) Evaluation of the turnover
rate from the fourth quarter in 2014 to fourth quarter in 2015.

Results

In early 2015, two small teams of “Staff Wellness” and “Staff Communication” were formed. Two team heads were appointed
and members were recruited (6-7) on a voluntary basis. They have the autonomy to brainstorm innovative approaches
to make programmes interesting and funny. This programme consisted of four parts, including (1) design of department
logo and staff badge; (2) publication of “staff newsletter” as the first of its kind in our cluster; (3) organisation of staff
communication board activities which motivated staff by writing impressive phrases on a seasonal basis; and (4) staff oasis
with themes. Attendance of the activities was relatively high, with an average of 81% (54/66) for the staff communication
board activity and 72% (48/66) for the staff oasis. A 97% (64/66) of satisfaction reflected that most staff were satisfied of the
programme. Positive comments such as “funny”, “healing” and “open and supportive” were received. Overall, the turnover
rate (per average manpower from January to October of that year) was significantly reduced from 24.1% (13/54) in 2014 to 7.9%
(5/63) in 2015 (p=0.016). The staff engagement programme in both verbal and non-verbal communication using small team
approach was successful in developing committed and happy nursing team in our department.

Wednesday, 4 May

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