CMH's wait time clock is back in service. Check it out.
January & February 2018
Communit-E-Cast
Comments or Questions
If you have any comments, questions you want answered or would like to be added/removed from our confidential mailing list please send your message to
communications_broadcast@cmh.org.
Welcome to Cambridge Memorial Hospital’s electronic newsletter, communit-E-cast.
It contains a collection of short write-ups we want to share with our friends and community partners. These anecdotes and stories are compiled from CMH’s weekly staff communication, e-Cast.
Communit-E-cast is usually published the last Friday of every second month (February, April, June, August, October, December) or the next business day if it falls on a holiday.
You can also connect with CMH through Twitter @_CMHospital and Facebook.
Staff "Ouchy" Face Contest
Throughout the fall, staff participated in an "ouchy" face contest while getting their flu shots. This gave staff the opportunity to have a bit of fun while getting a shot, and encuraged staff to participate in getting their flu shot. There were a lot of great selfies and staff had a lot of fun participating!
Accountable CCAIR begins on B4 Medicine
On January 8, the B4 Medicine team started a structured approach to patient care, communication and discharge planning. This approach – called the ‘Accountable Care’ – is in practice at hospitals across the United States and in Saskatchewan. Patients and their families that are part of Accountable Care organizations were found to be more engaged with the clinical team, expressed a better understanding of their medical condition and indicated an overall better experience while in hospital. Members of the B4 Medicine team trained and planned for this change throughout December.
McMaster Waterloo Regional Campus Awards
December 13 was the gala for McMaster University Medical School Waterloo Regional Campus annual Faculty Awards Ceremony. Four of our doctors won awards: Clinical Anesthesia - Dr. Laura Puopolo, Clinical Psychiatry - Dr. Shahzad Shahmalak, Clinical Orthopedics - Dr. Benjamin Pook, Clinical Elective - Dr. Upender Mehan.
Collaboration reduces time, improves experience
In October, the Emergency Department (ED) collaborated with Diagnostic Imaging to develop a process for treating and releasing ED patients requiring ultrasound follow-up. The goal was to improve the patient experience by eliminating time spent in triage. A working group set an aggressive target to reduce a patient’s length of stay from 4.46 hours to less than 3 hours by January 31, 2018 (triage to discharge, 90th percentile). The new process went live on November 27 and about 100 patients have since gone through it. The length of stay has been reduced to an impressive 2.41 hours from arrival at triage to discharge from ED, which is about a 40% improvement over our baseline performance. A big thank-you to both teams and Dr. Arthur Eugenio, Doris Gorthy, Bert Laranjo, Dr. Winnie Lee, Rita Sharratt, and Melissa Wood for making this improvement possible.
Congratulations Rhys Owens
On October 26, Rhys Owen - CMH’s Security lead - was the recipient of the first bursary ever offered by the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety Ontario. The funds will go to pay for Owens to obtain his Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator diploma. Congrats!
Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Awards
Congratulations to everyone recognized at the 4th annual Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Awards. Our hospital had a strong presence at the ceremonies, which took place at the Dunfield Theatre, Nov. 28. It was a night that seemed directed to our Foundation. They won for best Marketing for last year's (...and the past 27 yrs) Trees of Caring campaign.
The next award was earned by our friends at Work for A Cure. They have almost reached their goal of $500K for the hospital!
Next, our very own Executive Director Lisa Short was recognized when the Cambridge Community Foundation won in the category Not-For-Profit - Under 10 Employees. As an aside, Lisa was also co-host of the event with Chamber President Greg Durocher and did a great job, highlighting CMHF activities and our current fundraising efforts.
Finally, past Board of Directors and CMHF Board member Bob Cunningham was honoured for lifetime achievement. Thanks so much for keeping our community strong and vibrant! Click here for the list of all winners.
Congratulations Phil!
Our very own Phil Meighan, Ambassador extraordinaire, was awarded the Cambridge Celebrates Canada 150 Volunteer Award. In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, MP Bryan May recognized our community’s top volunteers with the Cambridge Celebrates Canada 150 Volunteer Award. Phil was awarded a special Canada 150 copper pin, minted from the roof of Parliament, was featured in Snap’d and got his photo taken with Bryan May. A complete list of winners will be published in January to congratulate and thank all monthly winners for their contributions to our community. Congratulations Phil!
Quality and Accuracy in Pathology
Congratulations to our Pathology Team on a very successful Quality Management Program Facility Report. This report is issued on an annual basis and provides an overview of the quality of pathology in hospitals and private laboratories across Ontario as measured by a set of 10 recommended standards.
This report demonstrates that the department of pathology at CMH is 100% compliant with the implementation of the recommended standards. This is a wonderful demonstration of the strong culture of quality and quality improvement that exists at CMH ensuring that patients receive accurate and timely pathology results. Another great example of ensuring the best possible patient care!
