{"id":85968,"date":"2024-11-21T12:19:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T17:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=85968"},"modified":"2024-12-02T09:47:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T14:47:02","slug":"meet-the-team-that-brings-caos-every-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/meet-the-team-that-brings-caos-every-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the team that brings CAOS every night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every night, when many of our staff have gone home and darkness falls, members of the CAOS team roam the halls…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don\u2019t let the name fool you. The CAOS team isn\u2019t here to cause problems \u2014 it\u2019s here to solve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur job is to make everything a little easier,\u201d assures Amy Coleman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAOS stands for Clinical Administration on Site. This team is a vital support system for our staff members who work nights, early mornings and weekends at our campuses and satellite sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After hours, the CAOS team fills in for all onsite clinical managers and directors, the folks who oversee the programs that care for our patients. When staff members face an issue that needs to be resolved ASAP and their manager has gone home, they often turn to the CAOS team for help. The team of clinical administrators will either help resolve the issue or find someone who can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These nighthawks may fly under the radar, but they are critical to making sure everything runs smoothly and our patients continue to receive world-class care after hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what hats do the team members wear? Well, it\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time somebody goes home, I gain a new job,\u201d laughs Amy, only half jokingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be impossible in just one article to list every job that these multitasking, multitalented problem solvers gain every evening, but three CAOS team members share the ones that come up the most\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping our teams well staffed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the role that we\u2019re most known for,\u201d says Amy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a unit needs a nurse, clerk, PSW or pretty much anyone else, they call the CAOS team, who will try to find someone to fill the shift. Usually, this involves re-assigning staff members from other units or even other campuses. That means the CAOS team has to keep up to speed on the staffing situation in a lot of different areas of the hospital. The team sees the big picture and balances out staff members to make sure our units have enough people to support our patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amy
Amy Coleman\u2019s first nursing role was here at The Ottawa Hospital. She spent most of her career in the Civic Campus Emergency Department before joining the CAOS team in the early days of the pandemic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Responding to critical events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a fan of just about any medical TV series, you\u2019re probably very familiar with coloured codes. Announced over the intercom system, these codes alert staff to critical events like a fire (code red), missing patient (yellow) or system failure (grey). The CAOS team responds to as many codes as possible, attending to the scene and helping to manage the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may remember the fire at our General Campus in October 2023. The CAOS team at the General helped nurses get to and from their units because we were down to just one elevator. And the team at the Civic helped facilitate the transfer of patients from the General\u2019s emergency department to the Civic\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was incredible to see everyone come together and amazing how well it all turned out,\u201d recalls Milena Gorichnaya, who had just joined the CAOS team at the Civic earlier that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Milena
Before joining the CAOS team, Milena Gorichnaya was a nurse for five years, spending much of this time in oncology. \u201cI made the move because I\u2019ve always adored the CAOS team. It was always incredible whenever they were doing their rounds just to hear the stories they had to tell.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Helping families during difficult times<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something I do at least once every shift,\u201d reports Kate Kinghan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If family members come into a unit and they\u2019re upset or need a little extra support, the unit staff will often call the CAOS team. The compassionate team members will be the face of management and listen to the family\u2019s concerns and help in any way they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kate
Kate Kinghan began her career with The Ottawa Hospital in 1999 as a registered nurse in General Medicine, where she stayed for nearly 21 years before joining the CAOS team. \u201cThis job really gives you an appreciation for everybody across the hospital. It\u2019s really opened my eyes to all the wild and wonderful things that our co-workers do.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with the unexpected<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For CAOS, expecting the unexpected is a big part of the job. Clinical administrators constantly encounter situations they\u2019ve never encountered before and have to think quickly to make critical decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to know how to adapt to change because every single shift is different and there\u2019s always something new,\u201d explains Milena. \u201cFortunately, we all come from different clinical backgrounds, so whenever we need clarification in a specific area, we have each other to reach out to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no limit to what our group can and does do,\u201d says Kate. \u201cWe go with the flow. We are flexible and learn on the fly. We just do what has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to our staff, the CAOS team has a message for you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here, all the time,\u201d reminds Amy. \u201cIf you have any issues, call us. Even if you just need a physical pair of hands, I have those!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t let the CAOS team\u2019s name fool you. Find out how these nighthawks help make sure everything runs smoothly at our campuses and satellite sites after hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":85970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[433,166,404],"class_list":["post-85968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-celebrate-our-staff","tag-staff-experience","tag-working-together"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968","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=85968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}