Pinning down exactly how many workstations on wheels (WOWs) exist in VGH’s large Intensive Care Unit (ICU) wasn’t an easy task – let alone upgrading their computers. These perpetually moving WOWs are in heavy rotation; physicians wheel the mobile carts room to room to look up and update patient data in real time.

“To switch anything in an ICU is a big deal because our unit has the sickest of the sick patients in the province. Every second matters,” says Jackson Lam, ICU patient services manager. “It’s very complex to schedule and complete upgrades in a clinical area because staff need these computers to access information fast and know the results fast.”

As part of the entire ICU upgrade, the Desktop Transformation Project (DTP) team successfully upgraded 25 computers on WOWs, as well as an additional 65 computers — all within four days and without interrupting the work of 250 ICU staff.

The new more efficient and reliable Windows 7 computers help physicians seamlessly capture patient data. “The new computers save physicians’ time so they can focus on their core job of caring for patients, instead of dealing with failing technology,” says Lam.

It was an entire team effort that took about four months end-to-end, from initial planning to completion at the end of January 2016. Everyone was clear they wanted to do it once, but do it right. “The DTP team did a great job. They were respectful and professional and they were really sensitive to our needs in the ICU,” says Lam.

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