Media Release

November 19, 2007

ATTENTION: NEWS / HEALTH / TECHNOLOGY EDITORS

Trillium Health Centre Physician Wins Prestigious National Health Informatics COACH Award

Mississauga/West Toronto – Trillium Health Centre congratulates Dr. Chris O’Connor on winning the Emerging Leader in Health Informatics Award at the 3rd annual Canadian Health Informatics Awards Gala on November 15 in Toronto. This award publicly recognizes individuals who are in the first five years of their health informatics career, have clearly demonstrated leadership and achieved early success in health informatics.

Dr. O’Connor has held the role of Director of Medical Informatics at Trillium for nearly four years. At the same time, he fulfills his full-time role as an Intensivist in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“Dr. O’Connor’s wonderful work is helping to drive our e-health strategy forward. The partnership between the clinicians, clinical informatics and information technology teams has resulted in significant improvements in the care we provide our patients,” said Janet Davidson, president and CEO of Trillium Health Centre. “This is well deserved recognition for Dr. O’Connor and for Trillium.”

Dr. O’Connor’s peers recommended him for this award to recognize his thought leadership and stewardship of projects like Trillium’s Order Set Transformation - a project which received Ontario's first Innovation Award for Improving Quality and Patient Safety from the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. This project has already provided tremendous clinical and patient safety benefits and has helped prepare Trillium for the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) journey. The quality of this work has been demonstrated by the host of other hospitals that have implemented this change with the support of Dr. O’Connor and his team.

“It’s an honour to receive this award, given the tremendous work being done in Canada by so many outstanding individuals,” said Dr. O’Connor. “Trillium’s culture of innovation combined with the close collaboration forged between clinicians, information technology and corporate partners has provided an outstanding environment to transform how we care for our patients. It’s even better that this work can be duplicated in other hospitals to help their patients as well.”

“Dr. O’Connor has been a champion and leader of innovation and adoption of information technology at Trillium,” says Dr. Norm Hill, vice president, medical affairs, at Trillium. “He recognized the potential benefits of electronic health records and computerized physician order sets long before the mainstream of health care awoke to the value of information technology in providing safe, patient care.”

Dr. O’Connor has been a leader of innovation, helping to pioneer the use of cell phones and BlackBerrys in a hospital setting. In particular, he spearheaded the introduction of BlackBerrys in Trillium’s ICU. This project has substantially changed workflow, with significant benefits in patient care.

“Dr. O’Connor’s passion and vision for creating the ideal patient experience, combined with his insight, innovation and implementation of health informatics projects have helped Trillium to make tremendous progress in health informatics,” said Benoit Long, vice president, chief information and marketing officer. “We’re proud to have Dr. O’Connor on our team and extend our heartiest congratulations.”

About Trillium Health Centre

Trillium Health Centre is one of Canada’s largest community hospitals with regional programs in cardiac, stroke, neurosurgery, orthopaedic, 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, West Toronto and 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.

COACH: Canada’s Health Informatics Association is dedicated to promoting the use and practice of health informatics within the Canadian health system through information sharing, networking, education, conferences and communication. Founded in 1975, COACH has a diverse and multidisciplinary membership of over 1,000 individuals with common interests in sharing ideas and efforts. COACH is advancing the practice of health informatics and is one of the most dynamic resources in the health industry in Canada. For more information, visit www.coachorg.com.

For more information on the Emerging Leader in Health Informatics Award, visit https://secure.coachorg.com/default.asp?id=711.

Photo Caption: Dr. Chris O'Connor with Trillium president and CEO Janet Davidson.

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Media Contact:
Larry Roberts
Media Relations Consultant
Trillium Health Centre
office: 905-848-7580 ext. 3832
mobile: 416-358-7201
lroberts@thc.on.ca

Media Contacts

For all media enquiries, please call Public Relations at 905-848-7580 ext. 3832.