Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, one of Canada's largest trauma and medical education centers, has automated its patient flow in hopes of achieving a new level of operational efficiency.
As one of two central trauma centers in Toronto, Sunnybrook treats up to 1 million patients per year. Its faculty, comprised of 10,000 physicians and volunteer staff, provide care for many different patient types, including war veterans, high risk pregnancies, critically-ill newborns and oncology cases.
“As a busy trauma center, the ability to optimize our capacity and operational efficiency while delivering quick access to care in our emergency room and to patients waiting for surgeries is essential,” said Sam Marafioti, CIO and vice president of corporate strategy and development at Sunnybrook. “We expect this system to help us make the most of our existing resources and enable faster patient placements to meet the care needs of the metropolitan Toronto area.”
Sunnybrook has implemented Eclipsys' Sunrise Patient Flow, an integrated clinical solution designed to improve the level of patient throughput in emergency rooms and increase a hospital's overall capacity and efficiency.
Sunnybrook officials hope that in addition improving efficiency with patient throughput, this system will ease the task of adhering to new goals in waiting time, long term care and time spent in the ER, all goals set forth by the Ontario Ministry of Health in 2008. The MOH's Wait Time Strategy, Long-Term Care and Emergency Room Strategy outlines new ways of reducing the amount of time patients spend in waiting rooms, MRI and CT exams, as well as the time patients spend in emergency rooms.
“Solving the emergency department bottleneck problem will have a ripple effect and, therefore, a positive impact on our staff and patient satisfaction. The system will help us get rid of the delays associated with waiting to place patients in the appropriate beds. As a result, we will be able to decrease wait times throughout the organization,” said Keith Rose, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Sunnybrook.
“Overall, getting the right care to the right patient in the right bed on the right floor can help meet the Ministry of Health’s directive to improve access, quality and cost. We are happy to be one of the first providers in Canada to address the operational efficiency challenge with innovative technology - and hope to serve as a model for other hospitals struggling with the same issues.”
