Meet the 2018 Team Awards nominees

Over the years the Team Awards have become part of the culture at KHSC, celebrating teams of people dedicated to transforming the patient and family experience in the areas of Care, Knowledge and Leadership.  This year, nine groups from across KHSC were nominated. They are:

The Admission Transmission Unit

Many patients are admitted to the hospital after being seen in the Emergency Department. However, the ED isn’t an optimal place to wait for an inpatient care space to open up.  The ATU provides space for admitted patients who need care in a stable environment, but are in the midst of waiting for an inpatient bed. 

Although the physical location of the ATU has been functioning for many years as an overcapacity space for the Emergency Department, it was never a formal team with dedicated staff or supplies. In March of  2017, the program was officially launched as a permanent medicine unit to relieve pressure in the Emergency Department and promote patient flow to the inpatient medicine units. ATU, in addition to other projects initiated this year, has contributed to reducing wait time for inpatient beds by nearly 50%.  

e-Referral Team

The e-Referral project addresses challenges faced by patients and providers by integrating patient data between the SE LHIN Home Care and KHSC. By electronically completing and submitting referrals to Home Care, patients can be discharged sooner and home care can be delivered more efficiently.  

The working group behind the e-Referral project has informed the project, built a prototype for the eReferral, reviewed and revised the form and tested the referral form. Now the engagement and education strategy is taking place, and clinical users are preparing for an anticipated go-live date early in 2018.

Heads Up! Early Psychosis Intervention Program

Heads Up is the Early Psychosis Intervention Program for southeastern Ontario, serving young adults who are experiencing first episodes of psychosis. Heads Up has been actively involved in primary prevention of psychosis through knowledge outreach activities to target at-risk groups of young people, educators and careers.

Marijuana use has a considerable impact on the mental health of patients attending this service.   By involving youth and community as well as marketing students, the team has delivered awareness of the illness risk associated with cannabis use.  This positions the team as leaders in the mental care of young people of southeastern Ontario. 

W.J Henderson Centre for Patient Oriented Research Project

The W.J Henderson Centre for Patient Oriented Research is a state of the art, 10,000 square foot facility that has been ten years in the making from early stages of fundraising and functional planning, to construction and setup for use by the Kingston research community.

The development of the W.J. Henderson Centre for Patient-Oriented Research positions KHSC and Queen’s University as international leaders in partnering with patients to improve health knowledge and outcomes. Its creation would not have been possible without the hard work, resilience, and resourcefulness of the Connell 4 project team.

Complex Malignant Hematology Team

The Complex Malignant Hematology team oversees three specific programs in hematology:  Autologous Stem Cell Transplants, Acute Leukemia, and the newly developed Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Program.  The goal of this team is to provide care closer to home for immunocompromised patients with complicated medical issues.

Over the last year, these programs have seen unprecedented growth. The number of autologous stem cell transplants has increased from 33 to 55, the number of patients undergoing induction chemotherapy for leukemia has jumped from 17 to 39, and clinic has been developed for long term follow up for patients who have undergone allogeneic stem cell transplants so that they can receive care closer to home.  

Human Resources Integration Working Group

People are a critical component of organizational success. Research tells us that during mergers and acquisitions which may have a job impact, the proportion of actively disengaged employees increases and can linger. During the integration of KHSC, the Human Resources Working Group led the transition of our people from two corporations into one.

The proactive and tireless work of the HR integration working group facilitated a smooth transition of people on April 1st with no interruption of services and minimal disruption in the workplace. By actively engaging and communicating with staff, they were able to maintain a positive employee experience during a time of uncertainty.

Live Transplant Program

This team has transformed the experience for people living with kidney disease by offering the option of live transplantation. These patients either did not have to start renal replacement therapy or were able to stop renal replacement therapy as a result of having a live transplant.

After months of collaboration with other departments, recruiting a physician, reviewing best practices and developing policies and procedures, the first live transplant took place in June of 2017.  Since then, the team has performed five procedures, changing the lives of these patients and their families forever.

Medical Secretary Model of Care

For many years the Cancer Center delivered a secretarial model that included Unit Clerks and Medical Secretaries, who had very similar responsibilities including processing orders, answering telephone inquiries, scheduling appointments and more.

A quality improvement team began to evaluate the workload of all roles, and decided to pilot a new model where Medical Secretaries would be assigned less physicians, but have full accountability of the healthcare team’s practice while supporting patients and families in their entire care journey.  The pilot resulted in many improvements, including improved communication with the care team, patients and families.

Pap Party Committee

There are a growing number of people who do not have access to a family physician, creating challenges for routine screening for diseases such as cervical cancer.  In order to increase access in our region the South East Regional Cancer Program partnered with Queen’s University School of Medicine to offer cervical cancer screening to women who do not have access to a family physician.

The first “Pap Party” event was created in 2015. This event is an opportunity for women across the South East LHIN to access a Pap test to screen for cervical cancer.  This event has grown year after year, from screening 16 women at Kingston General Hospital site of KHSC in 2015 partnering with primary care offices and screening over 100 women at 4 sites in our region.