News Release

For immediate release:
April 20, 2006

Trillium Health Centre Awarded Ontario's First Innovation Award For Improving Quality & Patient Safety

Toronto & Mississauga - Trillium Health Centre today was awarded Ontario's first Innovation Award for Improving Quality and Patient Safety by Minister of Health and Long Term Care George Smitherman. Trillium was selected from 620 other submissions.

"Trillium is extremely proud of this award," said Ken White, President and CEO, Trillium Health Centre. "It recognizes our staff's dedication to improving the health care experience through innovation."

"Hard work and an ongoing dedication to excellence define Trillium Health Centre and the people who work there," said Minister Smitherman. "Trillium's example is helping to chart the innovative course that health care is taking in the 21st century, and they are extremely deserving of this award."

Trillium won the Innovation Award for its breakthrough work with the Trillium Order Sets System. Order sets are used by physicians to order medications, treatments, procedures and consultations for each patient, in effect, the detailed instructions to implement today's complex treatments.

"In the old system, the physician started with a blank piece of paper and a pen," said Dr. Chris O'Connor, Intensive Care Specialist. "With the Trillium Order Sets System, the physician uses a sophisticated arrangement of the most effective orders that is standardized according to the patient's diagnosed condition."

Benefits of the new Trillium Order Sets System include:

• Improved Safety. Order sets reduce drug dosing errors and ensure complex medication protocols are accurately followed.
   
• Enhanced Quality of Care. Order sets contain current best practices which are designed to help the health care team select and apply the best treatments for patients
   
• Efficiency: Order sets take less time to create than unstructured orders in either handwritten or computerized systems. While saving physician time, they also are easier for the patient care team to read and implement.

"Order sets have increased the use of standardized protocols, improved the clarity of, and adherence to, physician instructions, and reduced test ordering," Mr. White stated. "Trillium's Order Sets System is critical to the successful adoption of advanced computerized order management systems that require precise order sets to achieve their safety and efficiency goals."

The Order Sets System is a component of Trillium's groundbreaking THINK initiative. THINK, which stands for Transforming Health Care into Integrated Networks of Knowledge, is a $100 million, seven-year initiative that will improve the technological infrastructure and knowledge required at the point of care.

This system was developed by an interdisciplinary Order Sets Committee at Trillium. The Committee works with clinical teams to develop and oversee the timely creation, approval and implementation of order sets. Led by Dr. O'Connor, Katherine DeCaire, Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Zelia Campos, RN, the team has created more than 200 order sets in a web accessible database.

"The Order Sets System project was begun more than two years ago when our clinical staff determined that standardized order sets were necessary to improve patient care and standardize best practices across the hospital," said Dr. O'Connor. "With Trillium’s commitment to innovation and to THINK, it was important to develop a system that could be implemented electronically in the future."

Inquiries about the Trillium Order Sets System can be sent to Trillium's recently created Innovations Office at 905-848-7538 or innovations@thc.on.ca.

About Trillium Health Centre:
Trillium Health Centre is one of Canada's largest community hospitals with regional tertiary care programs in cardiac, stroke, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, and sexual assault and domestic violence services. Housing a model ambulatory care centre and the largest free-standing day surgery centre in North America, Trillium serves over one million residents in Peel and West Toronto and from other communities across Ontario. With the continued support of the Trillium Health Centre Foundation, the hospital's fundraising arm, the two-site facility is attracting international attention for its innovative approach to providing health care services and has received numerous national awards for quality and innovation. For more information, go to www.trilliumhealthcentre.org.

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