Blog: Infoway Connects

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Lynne Zucker

We often talk about digital health as a journey. A fully digital health system in Canada is coming together albeit with lots of starts and stops on the way. We, the professionals engaged in the journey, alternate between enthusiasm and fatigue. The complexity of connecting systems together, sharing information across organization boundaries while adhering to all organization policies, supporting clinical practice and maintaining the utmost respect for the patient, is not a trivial challenge.

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Cindy Hollister

Next year will mark 40 years since I graduated from nursing school eager to start my first new job as a registered nurse working in my home town.

Much has changed for the nursing profession in the past 40 years, including the advent of digital health. Always eager to take advantage of enabling technology to support professional practice, I’ve developed a certain amount of expertise in this area.

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Keren Taylor-Hughes

After 15+ years leading change in health care across Western Canada and the U.S., I believe change management is misunderstood. People underestimate the impact a good change management strategy can have on the success of an initiative.

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Shelagh Maloney

Today is the final day of Digital Health Week, and we’ve had a fantastic time celebrating all the great strides that have been made by Canadians to implement digital health solutions. What a week it has been! We co-hosted a #hcsmca Tweet Chat, discussing how digital health has transformed the patient experience. COACH also hosted a webinar, helping organizations develop strategic directions for digital health. We also announced the results of our Public Health Social Media Challenge, where we encouraged public health organizations from across Canada to harness the power of social media to address issues and concerns.

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Fraser Ratchford

In the words of our President and CEO, Michael Green, “in today’s digital world, there are many ways to deliver a message”. When I worked in Public Health [a few years back], I was always an advocate for using digital health. Back then, social media was not yet on the radar. That said, it is inspiring to see that public health organizations from across Canada have embraced this innovative way of reaching their audience.

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Shelagh Maloney

We’re now halfway through #digitalhealthweek so this is a great time to extend thanks to the storytellers and national organizations that are supporting this initiative.

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Shelagh Maloney

Here at Infoway we live and breathe digital health. We spend our days working with our many supporting organizations and other partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada.

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Michael Green

This month, Infoway is partnering with 18 leading healthcare organizations to launch Canada’s very first Digital Health Week, taking place November 10 to 14, 2014. We’ve seen profound progress in the implementation of digital health solutions in Canada, and the inaugural Digital Health Week is an opportunity to celebrate the positive impact that technology is having on improving health and healthcare for Canadians.

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Kelly Kuru

Given that next week is Digital Health Week, I’ve been putting some thought around digital health and how it impacts my day-to-day life. Specifically, “what’s the value” and “how significant has the impact been?”

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Shari Dworkin

“How can we improve patient care through the sharing of digital health information?” Sound familiar? It goes without saying that clinicians need access to information in order to provide quality care. Without it, they are left making decisions without all the information they need. But it’s not that simple.

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Justin Noble

As I was celebrating the recent Thanksgiving weekend, I was reminded of how much comfort can be derived from being at home among loved ones and familiar surroundings. It seems only natural that Canadians would want to be able to enjoy the comforts and benefits of home during their health care journey.

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Shelagh Maloney

According to the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), between 9,000 and 24,000 Canadians die each year from preventable adverse events in hospitals. This number is surprising — but even more so when you consider that more deaths result each year from patient safety incidents than from breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents and HIV combined.

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Kelly Kuru

You’d be hard pressed to find a high school or university student that hasn’t spent countless hours preparing for their mid-term or final exam using a finely honed system of rote memorization through repetition. Fast forward 15 years and as a mother of a busy toddler, I find myself constantly repeating the same three words that I hope will one day sink in … “No!” … “Please!” … “Careful!” The usual outcome with this approach is that it’s in one ear and out the other.

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Valerie Leung

The intent of medication reconciliation (MedRec) is to ensure effective communication about patients’ medications at healthcare transition points. And although it is a patient safety practice required by Accreditation Canada, implementing MedRec across the continuum of care continues to be a challenging task. However, electronic MedRec (eMedRec) solutions can simplify the task — and now there’s a toolkit that can ease your transition from paper to electronic medication reconciliation.

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Shelagh Maloney

Over the course of the summer, I had the opportunity to meet with a number of jurisdictions and national health organizations to discuss Better Health Together, Infoway’s public education campaign. The campaign was launched in September of last year to raise the level of awareness among Canadians about the benefits of digital health.

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Jennifer Zelmer

Greg Price was a young man who died in 2012 after spending much of the previous year navigating a disconnected health care system. The Alberta Health Quality Council reviewed Greg’s case and made several recommendations, including how digital health could have helped improve communications among teams in his circle of care and empowered Greg with the information he needed to navigate his health care journey.

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Jennifer Zelmer

Camryn is an energetic child who loves to play air hockey, collect stickers, colour and play outside. But she also has a number of health issues which mean frequent trips to five different clinics at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. In the past, her care team had to wade through thick paper files in search of test results. However, since the implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR), Camryn’s care team can more easily find the information they are looking for and quickly share it with their colleagues. Here is Camryn’s story.

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Maureen Charlebois

This year’s Advancing Care Peer Leader Symposium was a reminder to us about why collaboration at all levels of health care is so important. Conversations between health leaders, from across the country and beyond, continue to be an essential step in delivering more efficient and effective health care for patients and clinicians through the use of digital health tools. Opening with a compelling patient experience, it laid the foundation of this year’s theme: Optimizing the Use and Value of Digital Health.

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Jennifer Zelmer

Eight in ten Canadians want online access to their personal health information. Four per cent have it.