HOSPITAL GROUP WORKSHOP FOR
BETTER PATIENT CARE OUTCOMES

BACKGROUND

A Northern Ontario hospital group serves the needs of over 165,000 permanent residents, in addition to thousands of seasonal residents and over 2 million short stay visitors.  They are home to the highest percentage of residents over the age of 65 in the province, with 50% living in a rural setting.  They operate six hospitals and a regional withdrawl management and addictions services centre serving 2 counties.  Supported by 250 physicians, 1,600 employees, and 1,000 volunteers, the hospital group provides 24/7 emergency services at each of their six hospitals, along with 12,500 day surgery visitors.  The hospital group administers close to 60 programs and services to support the needs of their patients and communities.

CHALLENGE

The current IT infrastructure was not mature enough to handle the growing demand on resources and services. Department members were experiencing increased frustration with the inconsistency in IT related work flow, patient care and user experience across its services. IT leaders were developing a 5-year Strategic Technology Plan to bring the infrastructure to digital maturity. They needed a solution to stabilize the existing infrastructure for an improved user experience and an overarching vision for an Optimal Digital Experience Roadmap for strategic implementation over the next five years for all patients and users. IT leaders knew they needed a deeper understanding of end users’ pain points and feedback on what would be an optimal digital experience. A collaborative overarching vision can help drive successful implementation. Feedback from the workshop would provide forward thinking strategic planning objectives for the strategic optimal digital experience roadmap and identify priorities for stabilizing the existing infrastructure for a better user and patient care experience.

APPROACH

Methodology was two-fold. A survey with ten questions reflecting a workshop agenda was developed to gather feedback from leaders, influencers and key managers reporting to key stakeholders. 14 key stakeholders participated in a 3 hour workshop. Departments represented were Patient Experience, Performance Excellence, Medical Imaging, Emergency, Mental Health, Laboratory, Clinical Informatics, LMS & EMR Implementation, Project Management Office, and Information Management.

SOLUTIONS

Stakeholders co-created an overarching strategic optimal digital experience vision for strategic planning. For the existing infrastructure they collaboratively explored then agreed on 6 priorities for implementation for a better user and patient care experience. Achievability, technology scope, resources required and unaddressed issues were included in the implementation recommendations.

OUTCOMES

• Stakeholder alignment
• Board alignment
• Resources allocated by board
• Achievable tasks within timelines
• Ownership and integration of activities
• Able to stabillize the existing infrastructure for an improved user and patient experience during Roadmap implementation