{"id":45942,"date":"2019-05-08T14:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T18:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=45942"},"modified":"2020-09-23T14:34:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T18:34:37","slug":"nurses-are-at-the-heart-of-two-year-project-that-will-transform-patient-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/nurses-are-at-the-heart-of-two-year-project-that-will-transform-patient-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurses are at the heart of two-year project that will transform patient care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yvonne Wilson, front row, centre, and Ann Mitchell, directly to Wilson’s left, were part of a talented group of nurses who showed clinical expertise and leadership as The Ottawa Hospital prepares for the launch of Epic, the digital health network on June 1.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of\nnurses across six health-care partners are leading the charge towards the\nlaunch of the Epic digital health network. Many more are supporting the effort\nas their colleagues and the larger hospital family of over 18,000 people receive\ntraining, learn new policies and understand new practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of nurses across six health-care partners are leading the charge towards the launch of the Epic digital health network. Many more are supporting the effort as their colleagues and the larger hospital family of over 18,000 people receive training, learn new policies and understand new practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospital and\nproject leadership recognized from early on the value of involving nurses in\nall facets of this effort to transform care. Their insights are integral to\nmaking the vision of seamless care in a digital age come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNursing has been involved from adoption of Epic to validation to testing,\u201d said Ann Mitchell, Director of Nursing Professional Practice. \u201cThat input has been essential to making this system work well for us and other providers. We spent hundreds of hours in build and design meetings, and we were able to add or change some functions to support how we work and to make the system practical.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ann
Ann Mitchell is the Director of Nursing Professional Practice. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clinical expertise and perspective from nurses are setting the entire effort up for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to\nbe able to provide more holistic care by having patient information available in\nreal time to the patient\u2019s care team across our partner network,\u201c said Yvonne Wilson,\nan experienced nurse and Clinical Director at The Ottawa Hospital, who is also the\nclinical lead for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launch of\nEpic across six partners in Eastern Ontario will usher in 21st<\/sup>-century health care for patients in\nEastern Ontario. Those six partners include The Ottawa Hospital, the University\nof Ottawa Heart Institute, The Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team,\nHawkesbury and District General Hospital, Renfrew Victoria Hospital, and St.\nFrancis Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurses offer valuable insight and leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A project of\nthis size and importance needed world-class teamwork. Clinicians and physicians\nworked closely together from the start in order to develop a seamless system\nthat will enhance patient care. The dedicated staff of the Project Fusion team,\na talented group of Information Technology and clinical professionals, have\nworked for two years to build and test the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurses were\namong the professionals on that team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vidhya\nVeeraragavan became the first Epic-certified analyst at The Ottawa Hospital in\n2017. She is a registered nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an analyst, Veeraragavan\noffered expertise in the areas of rehabilitation, mental health and security\nrelated to documenting information for patients in hospital. She met with clinical\nmanagers to collect data on workflows to help build the system so that it is\nstandardized across the partner organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veeraragavan recognized\nthat it might take some time for staff to adapt to the new system, but that\ndoing so has many benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will be so\nhandy – click and go. We\u2019ll save time and energy, so care providers have more\ntime for patient care,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, many nurses became project analysts and reviewed current workflows to customize the system. Peggy Guilbeault, who has worked in the NICU and in infection control over her 30-year career, was in charge of inpatient clinical documentation. She and her team spearheaded the process of standardizing hundreds of workflows, a process which reduced order sets from 560 to 311. This represents an unprecedented level of standardization compared to other Canadian builds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>“I think the biggest win for nurses is that there is a strong element of patient safety.\u201d <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nurses have not only been an essential part of building the new system but also in teaching others how to use it. Dozens of nurse educators have spent months creating tools to help colleagues understand and use the new system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front-line\nnurses were engaged to become Credentialed Trainers, who were responsible for\ndelivering training to over 4,000 nurses. Leading the training presented a great\nopportunity for nurses to develop new skills and to try a different aspect of\nnursing. When these Credentialed Trainers return to their unit, they bring with\nthem an in-depth knowledge of the system and become imbedded resources who can provide\nfurther support to their peers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In so many ways,\nnurses have worked hard to educate and prepare staff for Epic – all to support\nhigh-quality patient care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we have infinite possibilities for how we can enrich patient care once the system is live,\u201c said Wilson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yvonne Wilson is a registered nurse and the clinical lead for the implementation of the Epic digital health network. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A new era in patient\nsafety<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI think the biggest win for\nnurses is that there is a strong element of patient safety,\u201c said Mitchell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example,\nbeginning in June, nurses at the bedside will scan the medication and the\npatient\u2019s ID bracelet before administering the medication to the patient. The\nEpic system helps ensure the right person is getting the right medication at\nthe right time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEpic will help the hospital further reduce the risk of medication errors,\u201d said Lisa Mishak, a nurse with 19 years of experience in the ICU. \u201cIn addition, some of our patients have thick medical binders given our long-standing care relationship with them. In Epic, we won\u2019t be looking through hundreds of sheets of paper. We\u2019ll actually be able to look up what we need to know on the patient quickly and easily, leaving more time for care.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\u201cWe know that what we see ahead of us isn\u2019t the finish line, but rather the start line of a new era in care, safety and quality improvement.\u201d <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The enhanced\nsecurity features in Epic ensure that members of a patient\u2019s care team have\naccess to the right information while keeping patient health information\nsecure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cEpic will absolutely give all our other staff\naccess to information in a timely, secure and need-to-know-only fashion,\u201d added\nWilson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients as partners through MyChart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting June 1,\npatients can sign up for MyChart, a secure portal that keeps all your health\nrecords in one place. MyChart is connected to Epic, so once signed up, patients\nneed only to tell their story once, including their current medications and\nallergies, and wherever they go in the network, their health-care team will be\nready to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyChart is a\npowerful tool to help patients feel empowered as an active and valued partner\nin their health-care journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMyChart will\ngive patients another way to play a central role in their care team by engaging\nthem in their care and planning, and having easy access to their patient\ninformation,\u201d said Wilson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients can use\nMyChart to access their health records from their mobile device or desktop.\nInformation and test results are updated in real time, so their health\ninformation is always at their fingertips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together we strive to <\/strong>Improve care in our community and abroad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While The Ottawa Hospital and its partners have been driving towards the launch of the new system, we know that what we see ahead of us isn\u2019t the finish line, but rather the start line of a new era in care, safety, and quality improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\u201cWe are leaving our mark on health care and potentially changing the lives of patients who live thousands of miles away.\u201d <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hospital has\na long-standing culture of quality improvement, and Epic will help deepen and enhance\nour commitment to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an Epic\nhospital, The Ottawa Hospital will have access to the vast knowledge of\nhospitals throughout Canada and the United States that also use Epic. In\naddition, The Ottawa Hospital can contribute to that well of knowledge by\nsharing its expertise through Epic\u2019s world-class best practice functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, some of\nthe hospital\u2019s world-renowned best practices are already available to members\nof the larger Epic community, which includes renowned health institutions like\nthe Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are\ninnovators,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cOur work and research to improve care will be available\nto hundreds of health-care organizations across North America. We are leaving\nour mark on health care and potentially changing the lives of patients who live\nthousands of miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of nurses across six health-care partners are leading the charge toward the launch of the Epic digital health network on June 1. Nurses share their expertise to help design, build, and test the new system, as well as train and support 18,000 other professionals as the hospital and five other health organizations prepare for a new era of care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":45945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[397,402,420,404],"class_list":["post-45942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-epic","tag-leadership","tag-mychart","tag-working-together"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}