Good morning, TeamUHN!
It is a pleasure to connect with you across care, research, and education through this weekly CEO update – all in service of A Healthier World.
Key reminders and updates
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UHN's Toronto General Hospital (TGH) has climbed to the third spot in Newsweek magazine's global rankings of the world's best hospitals. This is TGH's highest spot on the prestigious annual list, a reflection of the culture of excellence across all programs and services. Ranking behind only the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic in the United States, TGH is considered the top publicly-funded hospital in the world – a great point of pride for me and all TeamUHN members who believe so strongly in universal access to quality care. In more great news, UHN's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre was recognized as Canada's top specialized hospital and Toronto Western has joined the list of the top 10 hospitals in Canada. All of this reflects how UHN is an international leader in patient care, research, and education, a position this organization has earned through the collective efforts of TeamUHN. Read UHN News for more and check out Newsweek's full rankings online.
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UHN's Board of Trustees met Wednesday. In brief, the Board discussed UHN's future strategic directions and unique position to offer system solutions to top health care challenges, and applying them at scale for local, national, and international impact. The Board also discussed how UHN can continue to blaze new trails through education, research, team-based models of care, and integrated care experiences. The Board received a fulsome update on artificial intelligence (AI) innovation at UHN. Dr. Bo Wang, Chief AI Scientist, and Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Chief Innovation Officer, outlined the work being done out of the
UHN AI Hub, and the "Clinical Camel," an open large language model tailored for clinical research. The group discussed AI's profound potential to transform health care with faster, more accurate decisions and diagnoses, while reducing costs. The Board meets again in April.
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Congratulations, TeamUHN – UHN's "preventable patient harm rate" is the lowest it has ever been at UHN (excluding nosocomial COVID-19 cases), indicating we are becoming safer. This metric measures the rate at which UHN patients experience harm arising from preventable patient safety events, and the goal is to have zero preventable patient harm. This is tracked in UHN's quarterly Quality and Safety Scorecard. To help us become even safer, the Quality, Safety & Clinical Adoption team released a new Safety Event Reporting Dashboard, available to all of TeamUHN. This dashboard provides TeamUHN with data on safety event reports at the local and organizational levels to support continuous improvement. Try out the dashboard today!
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Did you know that more than 99% of the isolation gowns at UHN are now reusable? Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, UHN's Facilities Management – Planning, Redevelopment & Operations (FM-PRO) Department partnered with Ecotex Healthcare Linen Services on a rapid turnaround program to collect soiled gowns and deliver clean ones multiple times per day. Now, FM-PRO has almost fully transitioned to reusable gowns, a move that means fewer single-use disposables going to landfills. "For UHN, reusable isolation gowns ensure staff and patient safety, save money, and are better for the environment," says FM-PRO Executive Director Joanne Bridle. “It hits our sustainability sweet spot." This kind of innovative thinking helps bolster UHN's reputation as a green hospital and leader in health care environmental sustainability.
Read more on UHN News. Watch
this Instagram Reel on the benefits of the transition.
Closing Notes
And now… our video of the week. In
this clip, TeamUHN celebrates Toronto General Hospital's climb to the third spot among the world's best hospitals.
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Have a good week,
Kevin
