Despite the pandemic, significant progress continues to be made on the CARE4 project.
As a reminder, CARE4 is a major transition of our Health Information System to MEDITECH Expanse, a partnership between Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, Georgian Bay General Hospital, Headwaters Health Care Centre, and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre. The new web-based tool will bring the entirety of a patient’s medical information into one unified health record, giving clinicians the full picture about a patient’s health and medical history anywhere and at any time. It means: 1 patient, 1 record, 1 portal and 1 log-on.
Over two hundred staff and professional staff, including those who were previously redeployed during the pandemic, are currently working on the care transformation project through 11 committees 20 working groups, 23 build teams and over 60 physician champions. They are meeting regularly, and all moving toward our revised go-live date of May 2020.
Each hospital has identified a Site Lead to ensure we are ready to go-live simultaneously at each site and transition smoothly to day-to-day operations.
“It’s amazing how the CARE4 project has been able to stay on-track despite the extraordinary demands of the pandemic,” says Dave Brewin, Regional Chief Information Officer. “Congratulations to the dedicated staff and physicians who continue to focus on this extremely complex project that will improve the safety and quality of care in our hospitals.”
This project will impact almost every clinical process and work flow, so a robust training plan and change management program is underway to ensure everyone is well-trained on the new modules and supported through this significant change.
“We can’t underestimate the complexity of this project and how much work it will take to launch successfully,” says Bewin. “We will need an army of feet on the ground, elbow to elbow, ensuring everyone is supported as we lead up to go-live.”
Although the project is full steam ahead, contingencies have been put in place in the event we see a second wave of COVID-19, including virtual training. Also watch for an interactive mobile device app coming your way in the new year.
“As a hospital, we are well-prepared for a second wave, with strong safety protocols, practices and policies” says Janice Skot, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre president and Chief Executive Officer. “Certainly future spikes of the virus will stretch our resources, but we’re confident the CARE4 project will continue to move forward as planned.”
