With HHS’ new hospital information system, patients can access their medical record, and even add to it, from the comfort of their own home.
Here’s what HHS’ new hospital information system means for patients:
The sooner Hamilton Health Sciences implements its new hospital information system, called Epic, the better off patients and families will be. Here’s why:
A single source of truth
Epic replaces the current hospital information system made up of multiple electronic and paper-based systems containing different parts of a patient’s record. It can be difficult for hospital staff, doctors and other health-care providers to pull together full patient records with the current system.
“These advances will become our new normal…”
Epic is fully electronic, with complete patient records available in one central place. It’s easier, safer and more efficient for patients and their families. It will make working in trying times – like the pandemic we’re in now – vastly more manageable.
Less stress for patients
Patients often meet with multiple members of their health-care team over several weeks, months and even years. For example, a patient at the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre might see a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a surgeon, nurse specialists, social workers and more. At those visits, patients are often asked to repeat their health history, such as medications they’re taking and past surgeries they’ve had.
With Epic, all patient information will be available to their hospital health-care team in one secure, electronic space.
Dr. Rob Lloyd is HHS’ chief medical information officer
“Epic takes the responsibility off the patient’s shoulders to provide this information,” says Dr. Rob Lloyd, HHS’ chief medical information officer. “It also reduces the risk of a patient forgetting to share part of their health history, such as medications they’re taking.”
Improved patient safety
With Epic, handwritten notes and paper records will be a thing of the past. Instead, the patient’s health-care team will use computerized workstations-on-wheels, mobile phones, and tablets to update patient information electronically. This will significantly reduce the chance for errors since there’s no more tracking down paperwork or trying to read messy handwriting.
Epic’s digital tools will also help health-care professionals manage workloads and patient data, so they can make the best-informed decisions in real time.
And by reducing the amount of time they spend searching for information, they’ll be able to spend more time with patients.
More control for patients
Epic’s MyChart app will give patients, and their families when appropriate, access to their medical record and opportunities to add to it.
With the MyChart app, patients can see their test results, share their records with some non-HHS doctors and caregivers, enter their own health information within a secure personal health record space, access health education materials and securely communicate with health-care providers.
Other features include virtual visits through video conferencing and the ability to upload pictures. For example, if a patient recovering from surgery has concerns about how their wound is healing, they could securely send a photo to the hospital’s virtual care team.
Over the course of the pandemic, virtual care – including medical appointments by phone or video conferencing – increased by 1,500 per cent at HHS, and it’s unlikely that demand will decrease in the future.
“Virtual visits, remote home monitoring, electronic referrals and e-consults are the way of the future,” says Lloyd. “These advances will become our new normal with the introduction of Epic, considered among the best systems in the world.”
TORONTO – Health Canada has authorized Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine that protects against currently circulating variants of the virus.
The mRNA vaccine, called Spikevax, has been reformulated to target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron.
It will replace the previous version of the vaccine that was released a year ago, which targeted the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron.
Health Canada recently asked provinces and territories to get rid of their older COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the most current vaccine will be used during this fall’s respiratory virus season.
Health Canada is also reviewing two other updated COVID-19 vaccines but has not yet authorized them.
They are Pfizer’s Comirnaty, which is also an mRNA vaccine, as well as Novavax’s protein-based vaccine.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
