Kingston Health Science Centre’s (KHSC) strategic plan to transform care, together includes a clear commitment to innovation. To move closer to its vision of transforming the local health care system, KHSC, working closely with Queen’s Health Sciences, has created an Innovation Portfolio of priority themes for future investment and work [See: KHSC Innovation Discussion Document] . These include 1) Digital Health, Machine Learning and AI, 2) Elimination of Wait Times for Specialty Access and 3) 21st Century Interventional Medicine – Minimally Invasive Approaches.
Under the leadership of KHSC’s Innovation Lead Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer, a team with expertise in Project Management and Data Science are pursuing specific innovation projects aligned with the priority themes in the Portfolio. The projects focus on implementation and evaluation of evidence-based innovations to improve care as well as developing infrastructure for the future.
There are numerous projects underway under the Innovation Portfolio – the following are three examples:
Central Referral and Triage Using Digital Tools – Axing the FAX
As Part of the Digital Health and Elimination of Wait Times themes, Ocean eReferral and Novari eRequest is being implemented in four pilot specialties at KHSC to centralize and digitize how referrals are received with an overarching goal of creating a single, paperless, integrated system for new referral management. Plans are underway to onboard additional specialties over the coming months.
Pathways for Primary Care Management of Common, Non-Urgent Consults
As part of the Initiative to Eliminate Wait Times theme, a working group, comprised of primary care physicians, specialists, and patient experience advisors, has focused on the development of easy-to-follow primary care management pathways for common, non-urgent conditions for which long wait times exist. Evidence to support this work comes from the Calgary Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, where significant positive impact was seen on their routine wait list. Launched pathways can be found by visiting: https://kingstonhsc.ca/refer.
Data Science, Digital Health, and Analytics
In partnership with the Centre for Health Innovation, there are increasing opportunities for collaboration by utilizing KHSC’s data (from clinical systems) to develop solutions to system challenges. For example, a project is underway with stakeholders from the Emergency Department (ED) to analyze their intake data to consider how innovative solutions can address ED utilization and patient flow challenges.
Related Links