Oculys Performance at CKHA

REAL-TIME MOBILE VISIBILITY
EMPOWERS FRONT-LINE STAFF,
IMPROVES PERFORMANCE
Oculys Performance at CKHA
TH E C H A L L EN G E
“We took a big picture approach,
centered on a strong belief in our people,
and the tools needed to achieve our
performance goals.”
Sarah Padfield, Chief Operating Officer,
CKHA
“With Chatham-Kent we were able to
collectively innovate and contribute to
measurably improved performance.
Working collaboratively with hospitals to
meet their performance and patient care
goals is the cornerstone of our success.”
Chatham Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is a 200+ bed community hospital operating on
two campuses in southwest Ontario, and serving a resident population of approximately
110,000. The hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) sees over 65,000 patients per year,
providing the majority of after-hours care in the region, and offering the only ED along a
nearly 200 km stretch of highway known for severe weather and 50+ accidents annually.
Along with 74 other hospitals in Ontario, CKHA participates in the Pay-for-Performance
(P4R) incentives program focused on reduced Length of Stay (LOS) and improved patient
satisfaction, with measurement and funding allocations based on relative performance
among all participants. In October 2013, CKHA’s P4R ranking was 16th of 74 for Total
Length of Stay (LOS) for Admitted Patients, and 18th of 74 for Time to In-patient Bed (from
decision). While National Research Canada (NRC) surveys indicate 90% of patients were
satisfied with the care received, all wait-time metrics were out of alignment with provincial
standards, thereby entrenching:
• a challenged financial position, and
• challenged hospital-wide communication, particularly for front-line staff encumbered
by a lack of transparency, inefficient processes, and outdated technology.
Just one year later, in October 2014, much had changed, and CKHA was emerging as
the ‘exceptional community hospital’ presented in its vision statement. P4R rankings
had improved to sixth of 74 hospitals for Total LOS for Admitted Patients, and for Time to
In-patient Bed (from decision). Over the same period, Total Beds in Operation had been
reduced from 265 to 216, despite consistent (and at times higher) volume of patients
visiting the ED. Organization-wide culture change with a notable focus on teamwork,
knowledge and accountability was underway, with improved financial positioning among
its key benefits.
Franck Hivert, President and CEO, Oculys
TH E S O LU T I O N
CKHA’s road to improvement began with broad reinforcement of the
concept of connectedness. Programs fostering leadership and continuous
improvement were put in place to enhance communication, insight and
accountability – within and among departments – which began to change
behaviours, break down silos, and improve awareness. Performance potential,
however, continued to be hindered by a lack of visibility, coupled with
cumbersome paper- and phone-based processes. As such, the hospital began
investigating options to bring the technology supporting the staff’s capacity for
patient care excellence up to modern standards, through visibility.
S IMP LE I M PLEMENTAT I O N ,
I N STA N T AWA RE NESS
A fully ‘agnostic’ application, Oculys integrates directly with CKHA’s existing information
technology system. Following an eight-week implementation and brief staff training on
the fully intuitive information displays, CKHA staff had only to glance at their handheld
device or departmental screens for the status in the ED and in every department across
the hospital. There was instant awareness of how long each patient had been waiting,
the impact of presenting concerns on available beds and where there was potential to
flex up or down. Access and awareness quickly translated to enhanced accountability,
as staff began working more diligently and more cohesively to prioritize care delivery in
alignment with provincial wait-time guidelines.
H OW OCU LYS
D E L I V E RS
SIMPLE
Direct
alignment with
current IT
EFFICIENT
Fewer phone
calls, less
paperwork
REAL-TIME
Instant data
THE WORK AND THE WORKLOAD ARE EXACTLY
THE SAME, BUT THE ‘ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE’
DISPLAYED BY OCULYS PERFORMANCE ENABLES
MORE INFORMED, COLLABORATIVE AND
ULTIMATELY, MORE SATISFYING RESULTS.
“Oculys has helped to reinforce organization-wide culture change focused on our
values, particularly teamwork, knowledge and accountability.”
Sarah Padfield, Chief Operating Officer, CKHA
COMPREHENSIVE
Hospital-wide
transparency
“We haven’t cancelled a single surgery since the implementation of Oculys. The map
makes planning easy, and has improved collaboration, how we work as a team.”
COLLABORATIVE
Teamwork
through
transparency
Willi Kirenko, Vice President, and Chief Nursing Executive, CKHA
“With Oculys, front-line staff can understand the demands on the organization as a
whole, and from a leadership perspective it allows us to be far more proactive in our
decision-making.”
Leah Matteis, Manager, Patient Flow, Social Work and Discharge Planning, CKHA
“Oculys is a great tool to understand the full flow of patients. It adds accountability
and clarity, and eliminates phone calls. The system now moves the patient.”
INTUITIVE
Minimal
training
FLEXIBLE
Configurable
view
Karen Waymouth, Integrated Director, Health Information Management
and Privacy Officer, CKHA
CKHA BY THE NUMBERS
1350 employees
280 credentialed staff of physicians, midwives, dentists, nurse practitioners
110,000 residents of Chatham-Kent
65,000 annual ED visits
93 percentage of satisfied patients
TH E PR O OF IS IN
TH E P E R FORMA NCE
Measured results
are a testament
to the power of
real-time mobile
visibility provided
by Oculys.
BEDS IN
OPERATION
ED TOTAL LOS
ADMITTED
E XPA N S I ON TO H O U S EK E E PI N G
A N D P O RT ERI N G
Keen to continue the trend of strong performance results established in 2014,
CKHA approached Oculys about expanding the power of visibility to include
housekeeping and portering services. The idea was the result of a water main
break in the CKHA parking lot, which revealed the existence of BBM™ groups
on the housekeeping team, and the potential to improve efficiencies and
communication by leveraging Oculys.
Oculys KeepNTouch was launched in March 2015, providing a mobile
workflow companion that allows users to manage tasks and collaborate with
the team, in real-time. Oculys KeepNTouch provides instant insight into:
• Rooms to be cleaned
• Housekeeper sign-in and out by room
• Instructions to mitigate spread of infection as required
• Notification to admitting when rooms are ready
“The visibility provided by Oculys KeepNTouch
will greatly improve workflow efficiencies,while
enhancing collaboration between
housekeeping and other staff.”
Beth Hall, Director, Support Services, CKHA
“Oculys has changed how we work, and made
things much more streamlined, especially
since we’re rarely at our desks. It’s the last thing
I check at night, and the first thing I look at in
the morning.”
Beds in operation results from March 2013 to December 2014. All other results from
October 2013 to December 2014.
Amy Zoumboulis, Supervisor, Housekeeping
LE SS O NS L EARNE D AT C KHA
L ESS O N S L EA RN ED AT O C U LYS
The right solution, at the right price. Oculys was more affordable, more
comprehensive, and easier to implement than other technologies, and enabled
ongoing innovation and performance improvement at CKHA.
Performance delivers possibilities. Through understanding of performance
goals, in combination with CKHA’s commitment to excellence, Oculys was
able to scale its own capacity to ensure continued high quality delivery, on-time
and on-budget.
Direct involvement. As a nimble start-up, Oculys welcomed our participation
in configuring the robust tool that has redefined how we work at CKHA. We drove
each other crazy, but the quality of the end result speaks for itself.
Single log-in. Right from the start, specifications for Oculys at CKHA included
a single log-in on each handheld device or unit screen. Re-inputting the password
is only required if it’s been inactive for an extended period. Not having that
would have been a deal-breaker. The pace of patient flow requires instant access,
instant insight.
Culture change, across the board. In creating a decision-support solution
that delivers clear and simultaneous value for the ED, the units, for housekeeping
and for leadership, we have, in Oculys, a tool that has made us work better
together, hospital-wide.
“I miss Oculys!” is the resounding response during rare periods of full
power-outage. It’s archaic when we have to revert to paper bed boards and
multiple phone calls, with no insight into what’s going on in other areas.
BlackBerry®. Although Oculys works on any mobile platform, CKHA chose
BlackBerry for its reliability, connectedness, and end-to-end security. We have
instant access to the information we need, while confidently maintaining
patient privacy / PHIPPA compliance, which lets us provide better patient care.
Beyond the dashboard. Among the 18 hospital sites where Oculys is
implemented, CKHA took the product’s flexibility for custom configuration to
a new level. The results include: transfer functionality and report generation;
entirely new products like Oculys KeepNTouch workflow companion for
housekeeping and portering; and the innovative connection between CKHA
and the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). We pride ourselves on the
simplicity, power and flexibility of our solution to meet the unique needs of
each hospital.
Innovation breeds innovation. The original vision behind Oculys was as a
management tool, providing health care leaders with real-time insight into the
pulse of their organizations. Each implementation, however, underscores the
fact that the true power of the tool is in the extent of its accessibility for all
front-line staff.
HOW O C ULYS
IS CHANGING
H OW H O SP ITAL S
WO R K
Better insight
More transparent
More accountable
More informed
More collaborative
Implemented at 18 hospital sites,
Oculys is:
• Providing instant, accurate data for 23,000
front-line staff managing 4,319 beds
• Processing over 21,000 information feeds daily
• Enhancing the patient care experience of
839,776 ED visits and 164,913
surgeries annually
WH AT ’ S NE X T
E-NOTIFICATION WITH COMMUNITY CARE ACCESS CENTRE (CCAC)
By mid-2015, CKHA will be the first hospital in the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration
Network (LHIN) to have a direct connection to CCAC through an e-notification system that
will run on Oculys. The resulting efficiencies will save an estimated 10 minutes per patient,
as staff will have access to each patient’s pre-hospitalization status with CCAC, enabling
faster decisions for physician referrals, improved discharge communication, and higher
overall patient satisfaction. CKHA and Oculys have completed their testing and are excited
about receiving final authorization from CCAC to incorporate this innovation into patient
flow practice.
R E SP E C T, T E AMWOR K ,
CO MPASSIO N, TR U ST,
K NOW L E DG E ,
ACCO U NTA B IL ITY
Teamwork, knowledge and
accountability stand out among
the six CKHA values that Oculys
has helped to reinforce.