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Brockville General Hospital |
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News Release |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brockville—Brockville General Hospital (BGH) recently launched an expanded data collection project in its emergency department in support of the Ontario government’s ER wait times strategy. Called ERNI Expansion 2011/2012, the project builds on the Emergency Room NACRS (National Ambulatory Care Reporting System) Initiative (ERNI) launched in 2009 to measure and report how long patients wait in emergency rooms. Now, with this third phase of ERNI, hospitals will begin reporting five new data elements specifically related to consults by physician specialists. Since the beginning of the 2011/2012 Deployment in October 2010, Brockville General Hospital’s Clinical Data Analyst, Megan Thomson, has worked as the Project Manager—participating in a series of information sessions on the data elements that are required for the ERNI Expansion and to prepare for the clinical, technical, and workflow changes the project required. The initiative builds awareness of the need for quality data collection for both the new and existing data elements. “The ERNI Expansion initiative not only allows us to compare our efficiency and performance with other emergency departments,” says Dr. Doug Barton, BGH Chief of Emergency Medicine, “but also allows us to see where we can improve our own performance in delivering quality care in a timely manner.” Brockville General Hospital joins 90 other hospitals across the province in collecting the important data that helps to tell the story of the patient journey through the emergency department. The availability of this province-wide comparable data will enable hospitals, Local Healthcare Integration Networks (LHINs) and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (Ministry) to evaluate specialist consult response times, and identify and address variables affecting ER performance. “Through their efforts in preparing for this project, hospitals have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to improving the quality of patient care,” says Dr. Howard Ovens, Provincial ER Clinical Lead and Toronto Central LHIN ER Lead. “With the addition of specialist consult data, we are going to gain an even more thorough understanding of the challenges associated with patient flow in ER and how to overcome them.” “All ER staff are to be applauded for their efforts and commitment to data collection and data quality. They are making an invaluable contribution toward ensuring their hospital’s success in meeting ERNI Expansion requirements and reaching the overriding goal of improving the patient experience through data collection and analysis,” says Lynn Guerriero, Director of Access to Care, the service delivery agent for the Ministry’s Wait Time Strategy. Ontario is the first province in Canada to establish ER wait time targets and to report publicly on the results. “The availability of accurate and timely data is essential to improving the healthcare system,” says Ms. Guerriero. “Without data you can’t analyze a specific problem and you can’t tell if the strategies you have developed to address it are working or not. You need data to inform an objective approach.” For more information, please contact:
Healthy people – Outstanding Care
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