At a time of year when giving thanks is customary, Mary Ackenhusen, Chief Executive Officer of Vancouver Coastal Health, is thankful for those who have given their time, energy and expertise to CST’s design process. She says the commitment and personal sacrifice that she has seen from design team members has been truly outstanding.

“The chance to shape the design of a system so important to our future is a once-in-a-career opportunity, but with that opportunity has come a great responsibility. We know that the people who have come to the table really care about what they are doing and have been genuinely motivated to do their best for the benefit of future patients.”

While acknowledging the important role design team members play, Mary also points out that the contribution of staff extends much further.

“It’s not just the people in the room who are making a significant contribution,” she says. “It’s also the efforts of those that have stepped up to ensure high quality care continues to be delivered while their colleagues are involved with the project.

“Your cooperation and effort is crucial to the success of the project and is greatly appreciated.”

The hard work of staff will result in many future benefits, Mary adds. This includes the development of a clinical information system that will support care in a way that is safe, efficient and that meets the needs of patients, caregivers and our Health Organizations.

As we move towards the validation phase, Mary asks those who have been involved in design to continue to represent the CST project. She would like them to take what they have learned through this experience back to their colleagues and provide continued encouragement and support to the project.

“The involvement we’ve had from staff to date has been invaluable, but there is still more work to be done. CST will continue to require the same level of input and effort from our staff in order to be successful,” she says.

“The contribution you make today will continue to touch the lives of our patients for generations to come.”

Background information

• Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST) is a joint initiative of VCH, PHSA and PHC, and one of the largest and most complex healthcare projects in Canada. It spans across several areas of the continuum of care including: acute care inpatient and outpatient units and ambulatory care. As well as creating consistent, leading practices, and a shared clinical information system, CST will deliver HIMSS Level 5 functionality.
• Clinical design teams, made up of hundreds of highly-skilled, multi-disciplinary professionals from across the three Health Organizations and Team IBM (experts from IBM Technical Services, Deloitte, Leidos Solution Builders, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre), started work on April 7, 2014. These teams are tasked with designing our future workflows, based on leading practices. In doing so they are defining the requirements for our new clinical information system.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Kellé Payne, CST Executive Director/Transformation Lead, VCH (Joint) – kelle.payne@vch.ca
Donna Stanton, CST Executive Director/Transformation Lead, VCH (Joint) – donna.stanton@vch.ca
You’re invited to submit suggestions for future articles. If you have questions or feedback, please email info@CSTproject.ca