Change management and partnership: achieving a solution to provide peritoneal dialysis in a long-term care setting

Health care organizations must respond quickly to today's volatile and changing environment. This article describes how St. Michael's Hospital (acute care hospital) and the Drs. Paul and John Rekai Centre (long-term care facility) collaborated to use an innovative approach to address pressures of change affecting peritoneal dialysis (PD) care delivery for the elderly. The collaborative applied Galpin's (1996) nine-stage Change Management Model to implement the organizational change. Both organizations generated a shared vision to improve timely access to nursing homes for patients requiring both placement and ongoing peritoneal dialysis. They analyzed their current status and committed resources for the collaboration. Both organizations generated general and detailed recommendations for PD care delivery processes. A pilot was implemented and refinement of the collaboration occurred prior to formal roll out. This application of a change management model to establish organizational partnership may be of interest to those seeking to establish similar collaborations.