BY NORM TOLLINSKY

MONTREAL – A new research andinnovation hub in Montreal isrunning trials of several ground-breaking technologies in re-

sponse to the COVID-19 pandemic.The hub was launched earlier this year by

the Integrated Health and Social ServicesUniversity Network for West-Central Mon-treal and the Jewish General Hospital (JGH)to re-imagine the future of healthcare. Oncethe pandemic struck with full force, the cen-tre, called OROT, quickly refocused its ef-

forts on the healthcare crisis at hand. OROTmeans “light” or “illumination” in Hebrew.

“The Jewish General Hospital was thefirst hospital in Quebec designated to treat

patients with coronavirus, so we had toadapt our operations to the reality of hav-ing a large number of highly infectiouspeople in need of our care,” said Danina

Kapetanovic, OROT’s strategic advisor forentrepreneurship and innovation.

“We quickly saw a need for technologyto play a role and augment our capacity todeliver care in a way that not only protectsour patients, but also protects our health-care workers – who we know are at higherrisk of being infected when exposed forlong periods of time to patients withCOVID-19.

“Reducing the waste of personal protec-tive equipment was another motivating fac-tor because when you’re in contact with pa-

Montreal’s OROT solves COVID problems with new tech

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

The electronic systems used in acute care hospitals and long-term care centres traditionally haven’t interacted with one another. Now, St.Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, PointClickCare and the CAN Health Network, are linking the two worlds with a new solution. Pictured areteam leaders (l to r) Tyler Aird, Andriana Lukich, Tara Coxon, Dr. Dan Perri, and Carina Andreatta. SEE STORY ON PAGE 10.

Building a digital bridge between hospitals and LTC

Once the pandemic struck, theOROT centre refocused its effortson the COVID-19 crisis.

PHO

TO:

CO

UR

TESY

OF

ST.

JOSE

PH’S

HEA

LTH

, H

AM

ILTO

N

INSIDE:

MUHC, CHUM collaborationMontreal’s two superhospitals,MUHC and CHUM, are combiningforces to treat and research COVIDpatients using technologicalexpertise. They’re even deployingrobots at the patient bedside.Page 4

New twist on telehealthAn Ontario provider, ONMD, islaunching telehealth facilities thatinclude labs and pharmacies, toprovide a higher level of service.It is also providing telehealthvans that take services to thehomebound.Page 4

Improved handwashingUsing a slim device that buzzeseach time a caregiver shouldwash his or her hands, theCanadian-made Buddy Badge isimproving the state of hygienein hospitals and long-term carecentres. Page 6

Pub

lication

s Mail A

greem

ent #

40018238

FEATURE REPORT: DEVELOPMENTS IN CONTINUING CARE – SEE PAGE 18

CANADA’S MAGAZINE FOR MANAGERS AND USERS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN HEALTHCARE VOL. 25, NO. 6 SEPTEMBER 2020

T W E N T Y- F I V E Y E A R S

FOCUS REPORT:

DIAGNOSTICSPAGE 14

tients, there are certain protocols you haveto follow that include frequent changingand in that context there’s always a risk ofshortages, so the idea is to minimize con-tact with patients while still providing ex-cellent care.”

One of the new technologies OROT istrialing is a My Vitals smartphone appdeveloped by Israeli startup Binah.ai andMontreal-based Carebook TechnologiesInc. Using a smartphone’s camera andphotoplethysmography (ppg) sensor, theapp measures heart rate, heart rate vari-ability, respiration, oxygen saturationand mental stress levels without any con-tact or leads.

The app works by gauging light absorp-tion on a person’s cheeks and detecting therate of blood flow under the skin. Fromthese signals, it can provide highly accuratereadings of vital signs using analytics andartificial intelligence.

Pending a successful clinical trial de-signed to compare readings from My Vi-tals with industry-standard hospitalequipment, the app can be used by pa-

tients in negative-pressure COVID-19rooms to self-monitor their vital signs,reducing the exposure of nurses whowould otherwise have to enter the roomsmore often.

The app can also alert COVID-19 pa-tients at home to seek hospital care if theirvital signs worsen. Patients simply pointthe phone at their face and take a pictureusing the app.

The Jewish General Hospital is also oneof the first health-care institutions inNorth America to experiment with Mi-crosoft’s HoloLens, an untethered mixed-reality headset ideal for limiting the expo-sure of healthcare professionals toCOVID-19 patients.

“With a single person in the hospitalroom, we can secure the information weneed about a patient’s condition whileminimizing the risk of infection spread,”explained Dr. Lawence Rudski, chief ofcardiology and director of the JGH’sAzrieli Heart Centre. “With the HoloLensand the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app… a physician or other healthcare profes-sional dons PPE and a HoloLens and en-ters the patient room while colleagues

view the images (on a computer screen)and consult from a safe locale elsewherein the hospital.”

Several successful simulations havebeen carried out involving COVID-19,

palliative care, intensive care and woundcare patients at the JGH.

“The HoloLens is very helpful in thecontext where you have to physically dis-tance yourself from the patient, but we seea use case beyond COVID-19,” notedKapetanovic.

“A wound care specialist, for example,can only cover so much territory, but ifshe’s able to provide guidance to homecare nurses equipped with a HoloLens, youcan amplify the coverage.”

Other innovative technologies beingdeployed by OROT include Israelistartup Maisha Labs’ COVID-19 Deci-sion Support System, which uses the SSIalgorithm and locally generated data topredict future COVID-19 patient vol-umes with 98 percent accuracy, andMontreal-based EQ Care’s platform formental health support services.

“The Maisha Labs dashboard tells uswhat we can expect the patient load to bea week ahead of time and that allows usto plan resources, organize bed flow, PPEand staffing,” said Kapetanovic. It canalso provide healthcare professionalswith 24/7 situational awareness of pa-tient status by collating vital signs andlab results in a dashboard and signalingpatient deterioration.

The EQ Care mental health platform isideal in the context of mental health staffshortages and the increase in depressionand anxiety resulting from social isolationduring the pandemic, said Kapetanovic.

A computer-based self-treatment toolmonitored by healthcare professionals, theEQ Care platform uses cognitive behav-ioural therapy to treat mild to moderatedepression and anxiety.

“OROT is unique in that it is very fo-cused on the creation of value,” saidKapetanovic. “It’s not innovation for in-novation’s sake. Its mission is to collabo-rate with private sector companies andstartups to address unmet needs in thehealthcare system.

“We’re really just getting started. I cameon board in April, so we’re still mappingout our plans. We will more than likelyconform to a public-private consortiummodel funded by a combination of gov-ernment grants, private sector investmentand the support of our foundation.”

Before joining OROT, Kapetanovicserved as executive director of HackingHealth, a global, grass-roots network of in-novators committed to creating digital so-lutions to support health-care systems.The network organized 160 hackathonsaround the world leading to more than1,500 innovations.

Staffing and budgets for OROT are stillto be finalized.

Art DirectorWalter Caniparoliart@canhealth.com

Art AssistantJoanne Jubasjoanne@canhealth.com

Publisher & EditorJerry Zeidenbergjerryz@canhealth.com

Office ManagerNeil Zeidenbergneilz@canhealth.com

Address all correspondence to Canadian Healthcare Technology, 1118 Centre Street, Suite 204, Thornhill ON L4J 7R9 Canada. Telephone: (905) 709-2330.Fax: (905) 709-2258. Internet: www.canhealth.com. E-mail: info2@canhealth.com. Canadian Healthcare Technology will publish eight issues in 2020. Featureschedule and advertising kits available upon request. Canadian Healthcare Technology is sent free of charge to physicians and managers in hospitals, clinicsand nursing homes. All others: $67.80 per year ($60 + $7.80 HST). Registration number 899059430 RT. ©2020 by Canadian Healthcare Technology. Thecontent of Canadian Healthcare Technology is subject to copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

Send all requests for permission to Jerry Zeidenberg, Publisher. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40018238. Returnundeliverable Canadian addresses to Canadian Healthcare Technology, 1118 Centre Street, Suite 204, Thornhill ON L4J 7R9.E-mail: jerryz@canhealth.com. ISSN 1486-7133.

CANADA’S MAGAZINE FOR MANAGERS AND USERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE

Volume 25, Number 6 September 2020

Contributing EditorsDr. Sunny MalhotraTwitter: @drsunnymalhotra

Dianne Danieldianne.l.daniel@gmail.com

Dianne Craigdcraigcreative@yahoo.ca

Dave Webbdweebmedia.ca@gmail.com

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Montreal’s OROT solves COVID-19 problems with new technologies

Tune in on Sept. 15, Oct. 13 & Nov. 17for a two-hour program that addresses important health care topics including virtual care and e-mental health.

Learn more about improving health outcomes for Canadians and creating a more sustainable health system for future generations — register today!

Join us for the Infoway Partnership: Fall Series virtual events!

infoway-inforoute.ca/partnership-fall-series | @Infoway

Danina Kapetanovic, Strategic Advisor

2 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m

gehealthcare.com/mr‡ Not yet CE marked. Not available for sale in all regions.

© 2020 General Electric Company – All rights reserved. GE, the GE Monogram and AIR are trademarks of General Electric Company. JB79133XX

T O M O R R O W T O D AY

Level up your image quality with AIR™ Recon DL

AIR™ Recon DL‡, an innovative new reconstruction technology from

balance between image quality and scan time, resulting in TrueFidelity™ MR images that elevate the science of image reconstruction for clinical

excellence without conventional compromises.

To learn more, visit gehealthcare.com/air.

BY DR . MARIE-PASCALE POMEY,

KATHY MALAS,

CÉCILE PETITGAND,

AND DR. BERTRAND LEBOUCHÉ

MONTREAL – Since the begin-ning of the COVID-19 crisis,the two largest universityhealth centres in Quebec, the

Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Mon-tréal (CHUM) and the McGill UniversityHealth Centre (MUHC), have cooperatedto establish social and technological inno-vations adapted to each stage of pandemicpatient care, from diagnosis to recovery.These innovations were implemented aspart of the Techno-COVID-PartnershipProgram (TCP Program) by an interdisci-plinary team that includes researchers, pa-tient partners, healthcare providers, man-agers, and policymakers.

The TCP Program revolves around sev-eral social and technological innovationsthat target the care trajectory. It will adaptin real-time to the pandemic situation on alarge scale. The main objectives of thisprogram are to:

• decrease the risks of contaminationwhile maintaining the quality and securityof care for patients and clinical teams;

• reduce the irrelevant use of personalprotective equipment (PPE);

• reduce the effects of isolation on pa-tients and their loved ones due to preven-tative isolation measures;

• maintain a care and services partnershipwith patients and their loved onesthroughout the care trajectory despite thecrisis and thus,

• avoid both physical and psychologicalclinical deterioration.

At every step, the CHUM and MUHCrelied on the state of knowledge and pa-tient needs by involving them in the co-construction of the TCP program. In total,

it includes six innovative projects. Themain projects are as follows:

• Care for and support hospitalizedCOVID-19 patients with different tech-nologies and phone calls from volunteersat the CHUM and CUSM.

Telecommunications (smartphones,tablets), telecommunication tools betweenpatients and professionals (via REACTS),and Internet of Things in health (pulseoximeters and glucose monitors) were de-ployed to clinical teams and patients at theCHUM and MUHC to support remote careand guarantee quality and security, whilemaintaining a partnership with the patients.

• Accompany the patients in their transi-tion and return home using COVID-19 pa-tient navigators (patients accompagnateurs,in French) and telehealth applications.

When they return home, COVID-19patients are emotionally and clinicallysupported by patient navigators.

Moreover, the TACTIO app, a partner-

ship between Tactio and CHUM, allowspatients diagnosed with COVID-19 at theCHUM to fill out questionnaires abouttheir symptoms and body temperature. Anurse follows up and validates the answersevery day and directs patients to a telecon-sultation if necessary, with the support ofthe call center of the CHUM, the Centred’optimisation des flux réseaux (COFR).

At the MUHC, the OPAL app, whichwas first used in oncology, allows COVID-19 patients at home to fill out daily ques-tionnaires about their physical and psy-chological symptoms and their vital signs(e.g., temperature, oxygen saturation), theresponses of which are monitored by anurse. If required, a teleconsultation withan infectious disease specialist or a mentalhealth professional will be offered.

• Care and entertainment for COVID-19patients hospitalized with psychiatric disor-ders with a robot companion at the CHUM.

Soon deployed at the CHUM, a robot

companion at the bedside of patients willoffer multiple functionalities such as mea-suring biological and subjective parame-ters, communicating information, sup-porting the performance of various tasksand entertainment activities, even settingoff various alarms and warnings, while al-lowing human-robot interaction in a user-friendly and engaging way.

All these projects are part of a researchprogramme conducted jointly at theCHUM and MUHC and funded by theCanadian Institutes of Health Research aspart of the Operating Grant: COVID-19May 2020 Rapid Research competition.This research program aims to evaluate inreal-time the impacts of the innovationsand the deployment of partnership duringthe COVID-19 health crisis with severaldifferent populations: patients, caregivers,clinical teams, managers, partners andtechnology providers.

The CHUM and MUHC together hopeto generate state-of-the-art knowledge andshare these innovations with the entireRéseaux Universitaires Intégrés de Santé etServices Sociaux (RUISSS), affiliated withthe University of Montreal and McGillUniversity, as well as with all of Quebec,Canada and internationally.

Dr. Marie-Pascale Pomey is a Professor at theSchool of Public Health at the University ofMontréal and Associate Researcher at theCHUM Research center (CRCHUM); KathyMalas is Associate to the President & chief ex-ecutive officer at CHUM, and Associate Re-searcher at the CHUM Research center(CRCHUM); Cécile Petitgand is Senior Ad-visor, Innovation & IA at CHUM, and Asso-ciate Researcher at the CHUM Research cen-ter (CRCHUM); Bertrand Lebouché, MDPhD, Center of Outcomes Research and Eval-uation, Research Institute of the McGill Uni-versity Health Centre-Research, Montreal.

N E W S A N D T R E N D S

TORONTO – Telesense Canada,a company that is both a de-veloper of telemedicine tech-nology and a provider of dig-ital care services in Ontario,

is launching the Ontario Medical Net-work (ONMD.ca). The new organizationand platform will allow patients to con-nect with doctors online, at their homesand offices, and in the near future atpharmacies and labs, where they can re-ceive prescriptions and have lab workdone more quickly.

As well, an ambulatory care service–using EMS ambulance outfitted withthe latest medical equipment, operatedby nurses – is in the works that canbring services to the point-of-care, con-necting patients with physiciansthrough virtual visits.

“When you go to your GP as a patient,you usually walk away with three things,”said Michael Haddad, president andfounder of the Ontario Medical Network.“You’ll get a lab requisition, a prescription,and possibly a referral to a specialist.”

ONMD is in the process of establish-ing partnerships with major labs andpharmacies, so that patients can go totheir local medical lab or pharmacy, seean online doctor on the premises, andeither get their lab work or prescriptiondone right on the spot.

Moreover, these sites will be equippedwith medical workstations containingstate-of-the-art instruments that allowremote physicians to conduct compre-hensive exams.

The ONMD workstation includesvideo and medical cameras, ECG, pulse-oximeters, non-invasive blood pressureinstruments, an electronic stethoscope, aglucometer, and more.

A trained nurse will be at the site tofacilitate the visit, handling the medicalinstruments and acting as the hands ofthe online physician. The live video, ofcourse, gives doctors a better under-standing of the patient, and the instru-ments in the ONMD platform – atwalk-in sites – will allow them to per-form extensive exams.

“We’re establishing a new standardand completing cycle of virtual care,”said Haddad.

Similarly, the mobile clinic – an am-bulance outfitted with extensive medicalequipment – will also benefit from theservices of a nurse.

The ambulance will be able to visitpatients who have trouble getting outand about, including housebound pa-tients who are frail or elderly, and pa-tients in retirement residences and nurs-ing homes in need of care.

In the future, there are plans to includea portable X-ray service in the mobilevan, as well as a “pharmacy on wheels”.

Physicians are now being recruited;Haddad said they can bring their ownpatients into the network and the

ONMD will also refer patients to them.Recognizing that Canada is now a

highly multicultural place, the OntarioMedical Network is offering video inter-preters for patients who may have trou-ble conversing in English.

“We’re able to quickly connect to in-terpreters speaking Korean, Mandarin,Persian, all the high-demand languagesspoken now in Ontario,” said Haddad.

Even sign-language is available, usingthe videoconferencing that’s part of theOntario Medical Network system, as thiswill ensure hearing impaired patients arenot left out of the digital healthcare rev-olution.

“We’re introducing multi-partyvideo,” said Haddad, noting that theplatform will support conversationsamong patient, doctor, family memberor interpreter at the same time. “Mostvideo visit systems out there now areone-to-one. With us, you get a more ad-vanced system. We can bridge to inter-preters and physicians to improve theonline experience.”

ONMD plans to transform telehealth services in Ontario

CHUM and MUHC innovate with Techno-COVID Partnership Program

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m4 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

UPGRADE YOUR OPERATING

ROOMMedica l imag ing equ ipment i s as

impo r t an t t o a su rgeon as t he i r

eyes. Wi th our af fordable pr ic ing,

w e m a k e u p g r a d i n g s e a m l e s s .

Don’t delay - get a quote today.

Ultra HD Medical Monitor

Bright, High Quality

4K Images

Simultaneous Recording

in 4K and HD

A6 Black & White Hybrid

Video Printer Accepts both

Analog & Digital Signals

Ultra HD Surgical Monitor

Bright, High Quality 4K

Images

Full HD 1920 x 1080 Video

Recording

Ultra HD Medical Monitor

HD/SD to 4K Upscaling

Color Digital Video Printer

Full Page Color Prints in 72

Seconds

10 Rolls of High Glossy

Printing Paper 25%

Glossier than UPP110HD

1/3 in Smallest 4K Camera

Head

4K Ultra HD Surgical

Monitor with 3D Features

Converts HDMI or SDI (x4)

Upscaled to 4K

Letter size Media for

UPDR80MD Color Printer

EIZO 58” 8MP LS580W CATH LAB / EP LAB / HYBRID OR

MONITOR LED 8MP (3840 x 2160)

RESOLUTION Sales, Service, Repair,

& Exchanges Available

BARCO 58’’ 8MP MDSC-8358 CATH LAB / EP LAB / HYBRID OR

MONITOR LED 8MP (3840 X 2160)

RESOLUTION Sales, Service, Repair,

& Exchanges Available

27’’ 4K SONY LMD-X2705MD

SONY HVO-4000MT 4K 3D

SONY UP-X898MD PRINTER

55’’ 4K SONY LMD-X550MD

DVMAXX DVMX1080

31’’ 4K SONY LMD-X310MT

SONY UP-DR80MD PRINTER SONY UPP110HG PAPER

PANASONIC GP-UH532 O/R

3D / 2D Features

4K CAMERAMedical Video Recorder Medical Video Recorder

55’’ 4K SONY LMD-X550MT

SCANMAXX 4KSC45P 4K

SONY UPCR81MD COLOR PRINT

3D / 2D Features

Medical Video Converter

PACK OF 2 ROLLS AND 2 RIBBONS

www.ampronix.com 15 Whatney, Irvine, CA 92618 USA

Canada and US: 1.800.400.7972 International: + 1.949.273.8000 info@ampronix.com

Worldwide Leader in Medical Imaging Technology

Sales | Service | Repair | Replacement

BY JEFF VALDIVIA

WINNIPEG – During theCOVID-19 pandemic, out-patient healthcare serviceproviders have recognized

that a technology gap is preventing themfrom effectively communicating with theirpatients at scale.

In the first half of 2020 alone, clinicshave closed, re-opened, changed theirhours of operation, offered virtual care, orrequired patients to follow certain proce-dures for face-to-face visits, and providershave struggled to inform their patients ofthe latest changes.

“With government mandates and practi-tioner associations [and] colleges changingtheir requirements for treatment almost ona weekly basis, the challenge has been howto communicate this with patients,” saysCrystal Waldrum, Clinic Operations Man-ager of Optimum Wellness Centres.

In response to the challenges presentedby COVID-19, Canadian EMR companyJuvonno is bridging providers’ technologygaps with innovative software solutions.“Once the pandemic hit, we recognizedthere would be an immediate need forclinics to communicate their responseplans effectively with patients,” explainsPatty Romeo, vice-president of Marketingat Juvonno. “That’s when we decided to re-lease JuvonnoComm ahead of schedule.”

JuvonnoComm enables clinics to sendmass emails and texts to patients based oncustomizable criteria, like appointmenthistory, demographics, or insurance de-tails. To simplify the task for clinics, Ju-vonno created a pre-templated message forclinics to announce their COVID-19 re-sponse plan. “Within days of the release,”says Romeo, “Over 100,000 messages weresent using JuvonnoComm.”

Optimum Wellness Centres (OWC),which provides a wide array of healthcareservices, including physiotherapy, massagetherapy, and chiropractic therapy, began

using JuvonnoComm when the provinceof Alberta allowed non-essential health fa-cilities to re-open their doors.

With 23 clinics in Alberta and Ontario,OWC had tens of thousands of patientswith whom they needed to communicatethe Phase 1 reopening of their clinics. “Ju-vonnoComm made it significantly easierto communicate with patients,” Waldrumremarked, “We were able to craft both amass email and text to our patrons inminutes.”

Once messages are sent, Juvonno tracksreal-time statistics showing which patients

received, unsubscribed, clicked, or failed toreceive the emails or texts. This helps clin-ics understand the success of their com-munication, like who may not have re-ceived the message.

By augmenting Juvonno with email andtext messaging capabilities, Juvonno-Comm has eliminated the need for clinicsto shuffle information between theirEMRs and third-party communicationtools, like MailChimp. “Because Juvonno-Comm pulls patient [information] directlyfrom our EMR,” says Waldrum, “Our emaillists continuously update automatically.”

Waldrum estimates that JuvonnoCommhas cut the time and effort needed to sendmass communications in half.

In addition, sending mass communica-tions by text message would not have beenan option for OWC without Juvonno-Comm. “[Patients] enjoy that they can re-ceive messages via text, and not to their in-box where [they] get lost,” says Waldrum.“They also like the flexibility of being ableto control what content they receive andwhen they receive it.”

The features of JuvonnoComm, how-ever, extend beyond addressing the imme-

diate needs of clinics created by the pan-demic. Many touch points throughout thepatient experience can be automated withJuvonnoComm.

A key performance indicator that manyclinics track and care about is their re-booking rate. The follow-up processes re-quired to maintain a healthy re-bookingrate commonly involve telephone calls thateat up hours of the work day. These fol-low-up processes can be easily automatedwith JuvonnoComm’s pre-built templatesfor post-appointment patient satisfactionsurveys, outcome measures, outstanding

payment reminders, and insurance re-newal notifications.

These templates help clinics improvetheir communication quickly and easily.“Being able to use pre-templated mes-sages,” Waldrum remarked, “has been ex-traordinary.”

Juvonno can also help clinics to imple-ment a consistent patient follow-up process.“Clinics can use our Patients Insights tool tocraft and automate messages to patientsbased on specific criteria,” explains Romeo,“For example, a clinic could automate mes-sages based on services received, the treatingpractitioner, or the patient’s last appoint-ment date.” With JuvonnoComm takingcare of messages that are suitable for au-tomation, staff then have more time to reachout to patients by phone when a humantouch is required.

But communication needs to go in bothdirections, and JuvonnoComm offers clin-ics this ability, as well. “Survey features areour most anticipated need,” says Waldrum.“As feedback from patients is extremelyimportant to us. We strive to provide thebest level of service and experience for ourpatients, and having a quick and accessibleresponse from patients is key.”

Ultimately, JuvonnoComm is helpingproviders more effectively engage andcommunicate with their patients. “We’revery excited about the possibilities with[JuvonnoComm],” says Waldrum, “Andlook forward to what Juvonno comes upwith next.”

Juvonno is a long-standing softwarecompany that provides an all-in-one solu-tion for managing electronic medicalrecords (EMR), scheduling, billing, patientengagement, and analytics to more than500 clinics and 3,000 healthcare profes-sionals across Canada.

Jeff Valdivia is a freelance writer and MediumContributor covering topics at the intersectionof science, meditation, and spirituality. Youcan follow him at Medium.com/@jeff.valdivia

N E W S A N D T R E N D S

BY NEIL ZEIDENBERG

In North America about 5 percentof all patients in a hospital or LTCcentre will acquire a hospital ac-quired infection (HAI), and someof them will die. In fact, 100,000

patients die each year in hospital fromHAI and about 400,000 die in LTC –every year.

More frequent handwashing is a sim-ple and effective way to lower infection.However, in a healthcare environmentstaff get busy treating patients, andsometimes they simply forget to wash up.

The answer may lie with a new Cana-dian solution called Buddy Badge. It re-minds you to wash your hands prior toand after contact with patients.

Created by Hygienic Echo (hygienice-cho.com) – a startup company foundedby Dr. Geoff Fernie, senior scientist atToronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI) –

Buddy Badge was beta tested in 2019 atfive care units of TRI and the resultswere later published in the AmericanJournal of Infection Control. They alsopublished 20 peer review papers, andhold eight patents on the technology.

“We showed it’s capable of doublingthe rate of hand hygiene,” said Dr. Fer-nie. “And when prompted by BuddyBadge, nurses wash up sooner before go-ing into a room.” However, studies alsoshowed when Buddy Badge was takenaway, hand hygiene declined back to pre-vious or similar levels.

Buddy Badge is a wearable technologywith an “eye” that senses when a health-care worker approaches a patient zone(an invisible electronically monitoredarea around the patient). It vibrates to in-dicate the user should wash their hands.

After washing their hands, their badgewill glow green for one minute. Whenleaving a patient zone, the badge will vi-

brate again reminding them to washtheir hands on the way out.

“The goal of Buddy Badge is to savelives and prevent illness through im-proved hygiene,” said Geoff Fernie. “It’sthe result of 18-years of research.”

Buddy Badge is not intended to be in-trusive – it’s meant to be a friend. It qui-

etly vibrates to remind people to washtheir hands if they missed an opportu-nity to do so. It’s all done discreetly so asto not embarrass anyone.

The Buddy Badge System includes: • Badges – small, lightweight wearable

devices with an eye at the top for locat-

ing Zone markers that indicate whenboundaries are crossed.

• Zone markers – beacons attached to ornear the entrance to a patient room to in-dicate when healthcare staff walk in/out.

• Dispenser – counters that notice ifyou’ve used soap or hand sanitizer eachtime the pump is used.

• Charging station – a table top with 56sockets and a touch-pad. By tapping thesurface with an ID badge a message willflash indicating which badge the usershould take.

Data is collected and securelydelivered through a cellular network tothe cloud. It doesn’t use any hospitalinfrastructure, or private or public Wi-Fi. Once in the cloud, the data iscompiled into customizable digitaldashboards that enable measurementand analysis of hand hygiene practices.It also tracks equipment status, battery

Canadian-made solution shown to improve hand hygiene

The Buddy Badge will vibrateto indicate when healthcareprofessionals should washtheir hands.

Clinics can communicate with thousands of patients using Juvonno

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m6 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

Healthcare that’s smarter, more connected and alive with possibilities.Our solutions are built for greater connectivity, using cutting-edge software and technology, open architecture for scalability—and delivering the most innovative and responsive tools. With services that provide the critical support clients need to optimize performance and productivity.

Explore your possibilities at ca.allscripts.com

@AllscriptsCANCanada@allscripts.com

BY JERRY ZEIDENBERG

Medly, an app for heart failure(HF) patients that was cre-ated at the University HealthNetwork, is now monitoring

nearly 600 users. It runs on most smart-phones and also on iPads. Originally aimedat patients reporting to doctors at theToronto General’s Heart Function Clinic,it’s now being used with patients at theToronto Western’s Cardiology Clinic, too.

The app is demonstrating some impres-sive results. A recent study of 315 Medlypatients showed a 50 percent reduction inHF-related hospitalizations in the six-month period after they began using theapp as compared to the six months prior.

Moreover, the Medly app is also en-abling better management of medications.As a result, there has been interest fromother organizations across the province –in future, other hospitals and independentheart clinics may start using Medly.

Powered by an “expert system” algorithmthat’s been steadily improved over the pastseveral years, the Medly app can advise pa-tients on how to respond to changes in theirhealth – improving their outcomes andkeeping them out of hospital.

That’s been extremely helpful duringthe COVID-19 crisis. But it’s also an ongo-ing issue, too, as the numbers of heart fail-ure patients in every Western country havebeen rapidly increasing. There’s an urgentneed to improve the health of HF patientsat home and in the community, as it’s ex-pensive to care for them in hospital beds.

Patients are learning to manage them-selves at home by using the Medly app.They’re trained to input a number of met-rics each day – such as their weight, bloodpressure, and pulse.

Based on daily changes and readings,the app advises them on the best actions totake – just as a clinician would do.

“If you gain a certain amount of weight,the app may give you advice on your med-

ications,” said Patrick Ware, PhD, andLead, Implementation Science at theUHN’s eHealth Innovation unit. “It maytell you how much medication you shouldbe taking, such as a diuretic, and when.”

He added, “I think we’re unique inCanada in this regard, in giving this levelof support for self-directed care.”

However, by no means is the patient onhis or her own. Medly makes use of the In-ternet and connects the patients to clini-cians. The program is supervised by nurses,who can monitor all of the patients and whoreceive alerts when results are out of whack.

“About 75 percent of the informationthe patients report is normal,” said Dr.Ware. “About 25 percent will have a cau-tion alert for the nurse. And the nursesusually know the patients, as they’ve metthem in the clinics – they know what’s go-ing on. If they’re getting an alert a few daysin a row, they’ll follow up with the patientto see what’s happening.”

Dr. Ware noted that in less than 1% ofthe cases, alerts are urgent, and involve aclinically important combination of symp-toms such as chest pain, difficulty breath-

ing or blood pressure that is significantlyhigh or low.

The nurses follow-up immediately onthese incidents; they can also escalate thecalls to physicians when needed.

The results of the Medly program speakfor themselves: not only are the HF-relatedhospitalization rates 50 percent lower forpatients using the app than for those whodon’t, they’re also 24 percent lower for all-cause hospitalizations.

“It’s been very effective,” said Dr. Ware.“We’re also showing an improvement inthe quality of life for these patients, in theiremotional and physical health.”

The strength of the Medly system alsomeans that fewer nurses are needed tomonitor patients, Dr. Ware said. Currently,two nurses are monitoring 600 patients.That compares with one nurse for every 60or 70 patients for some other telemonitor-ing programs, he said.

The team at the UHN is continuing toimprove and modify Medly. They’re col-laborating now with the Vector Institute,which specializes in machine learning andother forms of artificial intelligence, to

build additional functionality into the app.For example, in future, it may include

the patient’s particular medications orother health information in its algorithm,so the algorithm becomes even more per-sonalized to the individual.

Medly has proven to be especially help-ful with the challenge of titrating the med-ications of patients. Ideally, cardiologistslike to see patients taking the highest doseof a heart medication that can be tolerated,for maximum effectiveness.

Normally, to gauge this optimal level,patients visit their cardiologist every twoweeks, to determine the maximum levelfor the patient.

That’s a lot of back and forth for mostpatients, and it has been difficult to accom-plish during the COVID-19 lockdown.

But by using Medly, patients can recordtheir symptoms in the app each day or di-rectly call the Medly nurse. The nurse canin turn alert the cardiologist whether thepatient is tolerating the medication or not.

“What used to be a visit to the hospitalevery two weeks – for what turned out tobe just a short visit with the physician –can be remotely managed by the nurse anddata collected by Medly,” said Dr. Ware.

“The nurse can send a message to thecardiologist to increase the dose, reduce itor keep it stable,” he said.

Dr. Ware noted that in practice, whenpatients were required to visit the cardiol-ogist in person for titration, many couldnot come every two weeks. It was too farfor them, they could not take time offwork, they would forget, or other thingswould come up. But with Medly, they sim-ply input their readings into their smart-phone or iPad and the nurse becomesaware of what’s happening.

“We’re now making this feature a stan-dard part of the Medly program,” said Dr.Ware. “Titration has been a cornerstoneof heart failure management, but it is areal challenge. Medly improves the wholeprocess.”

N E W S A N D T R E N D S

BY MEAGHAN QUINN

KINGSTON, ONT. – A newplatform will now help maketracking referrals into theDiagnostic Imaging (DI)

department at Kingston Health SciencesCentre (KHSC) a lot easier for bothpatients and primary care providers.

Known as the Ocean eReferralNetwork, this technology allowsprimary care providers to securely sendelectronic referrals in real-time whilehelping keep patients informed on thestatus of this referral.

“The wonderful thing with thistechnology is not only does it keepproviders informed on the status of thereferral but it also updates the patient viaemail on when the referral has been sentand confirms when they have anappointment created,” says Kelly Hubbard,manager of DI at KHSC. “It’s an effective

way of keeping patients informed alongevery step of their care journey.”

With the Ocean eReferral Network,primary care providers send in anelectronic referral on a patients behalf tohave them seen in the DI department atKHSC. This is a marked difference fromthe traditional faxed referral. At the sametime the eReferral is sent, an alert alsogoes to the patients email address andboth the patient and referring providerare kept informed electronically.

If the patient does not have an emailaddress or prefers to not provide one, DIwill still book the patient via a phonecall and letter confirmation while alsokeeping track electronically so theprimary care provider is kept informed.

For the DI department this workalso helps to manage a demandingworkload of referrals. As the largest DIdepartment in the South East region,they face one of the highest volumes

of referrals for a clinical area. “In addition to streamlining work

and keeping patients informed alongtheir care journey, another advantage ofthis technology is that it may help to cutdown on certain types of privacybreaches. When referrals are received via

fax it can be difficult at times to read thesignature on the referral form andconsequently information is sometimesshared with the incorrect provider. Withthe electronic referrals there is nosignature to decipher,” says Hubbard.

An added bonus with the Oceantechnology is that DI can customize the

messages that are sent back to patients.This means that they can updateinformation on any changes that may behappening at KHSC when theappointment is booked or importantinformation that is needed to know inadvance of the appointment, allowingthe patient to plan their visit accordingly.

Getting this technology put into placewas a big investment of time andteamwork by DI staff and physicianswith significant support from the OceaneReferral team – but its work that DI hasno regrets about.

“This is a win-win for ourdepartment, primary care providersand, most importantly, our patients,”says Hubbard. “We’ve received positivefeedback from our community partnersthat are already using this platform toconnect with us; I would encourage allcare providers to get on board with thistechnology.”

New system connects patients, GPs with diagnostic imaging department

UHN’s Medly app for cardiology patients improves care and outcomes

The technology allowsprimary care providers tosend electronic referrals andkeep patients informed.

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m8 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

1-877-418-2210 evidenthealth.ca

The right tools. The right insight. The right partner.

TO TAKE CARE OF PEOPLE, YOU NEED MORE THAN TECHNOLOGY.

WE UNDERSTAND.

Evident’s Thrive CIS delivers the capabilities, ease of use and seamless integration across the continuum of care that hospitals and other healthcare facilities need to prepare for the future.

But we know there’s much more to it than that. You need a true partner that shares your values, culture, and commitment to improving the quality of healthcare.

We understand your daily reality. That’s what makes us unique. Our tailored, collaborative LikeMind implementation and support model is built on a deep knowledge of how you work and what you want to achieve.

And that can make all the difference.

BY ELAINE MITROPOULOS

s COVID-19 amplifies the need forcollaboration among healthcareproviders, a unique partnership is

creating a digital link between St. Joseph’sHealthcare Hamilton (SJHH) and St.

Joseph’s Villa in Hamilton, Ont., to en-hance the health outcomes of older adultstransferred between hospital and long-term care (LTC).

By implementing Harmony byPointClickCare, an integrated platform,acute care teams will be able to send elec-

tronic medical information directly to LTCteams – in real-time. The same will be truein reverse for residents of an LTC homegoing into hospital.

“The project will enable two-way com-puterized exchange of clinical informationmaking discharge from hospital faster,

helping to reduce readmissions, and po-tentially preventing some admissions,” saidDr. Dan Perri, chief medical informationofficer at SJHH.

“As the number of baby boomers need-ing LTC facilities is expected to reach arecord high, the benefits move beyondCOVID-19. This data exchange couldkeep older adults safe, and out of hospital,longer.”

Healthcare systems use electronichealth record (EHR) platforms that bestmeet the needs of their organization. AtSJHH, Epic (Dovetale) supports the hospi-tal’s acute and ambulatory care programs,while PointClickCare, which is designed tosupport LTC facilities, is used at St.Joseph’s Villa.

In the past, when a patient was dis-charged from hospital to LTC, or a residentreturns to a care home after a hospitalvisit, printed or faxed documentation wasused in the transfer of care. As a result,clinicians lacked quick access to medicalhistories from the LTC home, and LTCstaff would manually input clinical datainto a resident’s electronic records.

In integrating the two systems, Har-mony will run in collaboration with Epic’sCare Everywhere platform. By reconcilingmedical record numbers in hospital withPointClickCare’s counterpart in the carehome, healthcare providers on both sidesof a care scenario will be able to view out-side information within an individual’smedical chart.

Up-to-date data will allow clinicians toknow exactly what medication the patientis taking, and the right dosage and fre-quency – curbing potential delays in treat-ment and errors in care.

“Transitions between LTC and hospitalshave the potential for poor communica-tion and medication errors that can hurtolder adults,” said Dr. Hugh Boyd, medicaldirector at St. Joseph’s Villa. “This integra-tion will eliminate clinicians wasting timesorting through fragmented data and al-low more time to focus on caring for pa-tients. It will save time and lives.”

Throughout the project, SJHH is work-ing collaboratively with PointClickCare toensure the integration’s infrastructure isresilient in maintaining cyber-security.

“Protecting personal health informa-tion is an important component of anydata integration project,” said Tara Coxon,chief information officer at SJHH. “Tosafeguard the solution, our teams are thor-oughly assessing vendor threats and pri-vacy risks to ensure the integration’s archi-tecture has the right mechanisms in placeto address potential failures.”

The team will test the integration’sfunctionality to ensure the right informa-tion populates the right medical chart sec-tions in the process. Testing will match de-mographic data, including an individual’sname, address, and health card informa-tion, as well as the accurate transfer of clin-ical history.

The team will use baseline metrics toevaluate efficiencies in workflows andhealth outcomes to gauge the project’s suc-cess. Once the benefits of the commercial-ization pilot projects are known, the hope isthe solution will expand to other LTC homesusing PointClickCare’s EHR platform.

Digital link between hospital and LTC aims to enhance health outcomes

N E W S A N D T R E N D S

A

Electromedicine andmedical technologyin halls 9 to 17

www.medica.de/MEDTECH2

Ground-breaking medicine up close

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY16–19 NOVEMBER 2020

Leading International Trade Fair

Member of www.medica.de

WORLD FORUM FOR MEDICINEBE PART OF THE NO. 1!

Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Inc.Your contact: Stefan Egge

480 University Avenue _ Suite 1500 _ Toronto _ Ontario _ M5G 1V2Tel.: (416) 598-1524 _ Fax: (416) 598-1840

E-mail: messeduesseldorf@germanchamber.caFor Travel Information: LM Travel /Carlson Wagonlit

Tel: 1-888-371-6151 _ Fax: 1-866-880-1121E-mail: ahoule@vovagelm.ca

2020-05-31 MEDICA 2020_Kanada_Elektro_177,8 x 254 mm_Canadian Healthcare Technology_4c_9189.indd 1 29.05.20 09:22

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m1 0 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

TO RECONNECT, WE MUST BREAK THE CHAIN.Contact tracing is crucial to slow the spread of COVID-19.

We’re working with global health organizations and governments to automate contact tracing capabilities, creating links between patients, contacts and places. When we can identify those who are most at risk, we can ensure the safety and health of all citizens and pave the path to economic recovery.

sas.com/ca/contact-tracing

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. © 2020 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved. G132740.0620

BY GENEVIEVE TOMNEY

From the moment the COVID-19pandemic found its way into Cana-dian long-term care and retirement

homes, it was clear the impact of the novelcoronavirus would be profound.

Seniors are at higher risk of developingserious COVID-19 illness. Long-term careand retirement homes are particularly vul-nerable to outbreaks due to the communalnature of their living environment.

Efforts to keep the virus from enteringhomes by limiting visitors have been crucial.

In April, a program funded by OntarioHealth was launched to bring remote careto long-term care residents in theprovince. Using the VirtualCare platformdeveloped by Think Research, a Canadianhealth technology and clinical contentcompany, long-term care homes have been

able to connect with external clinicians viaaudio, video and chat.

“It’s been a shift for everyone to changehow we bring physician care to residents.Remote care options have long been avail-able but hadn’t become part of the every-day workflow for long-term care,” saysMylee McDonald, nurse manager at KingCity Lodge. “It quickly became evident inthis pandemic that a virtual solution wasabsolutely necessary.”

Primary care doctors play a vital role inthe health of long-term care residents.They build relationships with the staff andresidents and know their medical history.Importantly, the physicians also come tothe home.

But with these visits there is always adegree of infection risk – something thathas become particularly concerning dur-ing COVID-19. Physicians typically seemany patients in a number of different set-tings, including hospitals. As they travelbetween clinics and other long-term carehomes, the possibility of spreading anykind of virus increases.

McDonald says by quickly pivoting tovirtual care, King City Lodge has been ableto maintain those important doctor-patientrelationships, but vastly reduce the risk.

“It’s allowed us to continue to offer thehigh-level of care we want for our resi-dents by bringing in our doctors to care forresidents without the physician ever hav-ing to actually step foot in our home. Wecan provide safe and effective virtual visitsbetween physicians and residents. We canhelp contain the spread of COVID-19. Wecan protect our community.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic,King City Lodge has been COVID-free –no staff or residents have tested positivefor the virus. As Ontario prepares for apossible second wave of infection in thefall, long-term care homes like theirs areconstantly looking at how to improve care,reduce infection risk and prevent thespread of the novel coronavirus. Virtualcare is an important part of that plan.

“We’re incredibly proud to be able tooffer our platform to Ontario long-termcare homes in these challenging times,”says Sachin Aggarwal, CEO of Think Re-search.

“We’ve seen how using a virtual careplatform designed for use in a long-termcare setting can ensure that residents con-tinue to get the care they need, without thestress or risk of traveling out of the home.We know how important it is for long-term care homes to be able to continue de-livering high-quality care for their resi-dents and we’re working closely with themto support that.”

The VirtualCare for long-term careplatform facilitates the interaction be-tween the physician, the resident and thehome’s staff via chat, audio and video. Thetechnology doesn’t eliminate the need forin-person visits, but provides a safe alter-native where appropriate.

Long-term care homes are using Virtual-Care with a variety of providers includingprimary care physicians, nurse practitionersand dietitians. The platform is Canadian-made and fully compliant with PIPEDAlegislation, with all data housed on a secure,Canadian cloud-based platform.

Think Research brings virtual care to Ontario Long-Term Care homes

N E W S A N D T R E N D S

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m1 2 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

F O C U S O N D I A G N O S T I C S

Innovation in VancouverDr Jing Zhang, MR Scientist GEHCDjavad Mowafaghian Center for BrainHealth University of British Columbia,Vancouver, and British ColumbiaChildren’s Hospital, Vancouver

Dr. Jing Zhang has been workingwith Dr. Bruce Bjornson and histeam at the BC Children’s Hospital

(BCCH) in Vancouver for the past sixyears. Dr Bjornson’s research is primarilyfocused on the application of multi-modality functional neuroimaging meth-ods in childhood epilepsy. The goal is toevaluate outcomes and enhance neurolog-ical care in children. Dr. Zhang has alsobeen working with Dr. Jonathan Ray-ment’s team on establishing the utility ofpulmonary MRI as a radiation-free imag-ing tool for assessing disease progressionand therapeutic response in patients suf-fering from chronic respiratory disease.

Some of the challenges of pediatric MRIinclude motion, need for sedation and get-ting good image contrast in the developingbrain and to avoid radiation dose in imag-ing. Dr. Zhang is helping to address many ofthese challenges by optimizing a prospec-tive motion correction method, developingMR sequences that maximize contrast be-tween gray and white matter of the brainand MR-based measurement of myelin.

Canada’s only simultaneous PET-MRmachine dedicated solely to brain-relatedresearch was installed at the DjavadMowafaghian Center for Brain Health Uni-versity of British Columbia (UBC), in Van-couver. The GEHC team is partnering withDr. Vesna Sossi and her team to develop thenext generation of Neuro PET-MR applica-tions. Dr. Zhang has been key to develop-ment of the MR imaging protocols suitablefor the PET-MR platform and to rampingup of the PET-MR imaging program.

Innovation in CalgaryDr. Marc LebelLead Scientist, Neuro MR, GEHCThe Foothills Hospital, CalgaryThe Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary

Dr. Marc Lebel has been onsite at theFoothills Hospital & Alberta Chil-dren’s Hospital for eight years, dur-

ing which time he has led a broad spec-trum of projects and clinical applications.He co-developed a technique for measure-ment of permeability and blood fractionby highly accelerated dynamic contrast en-hanced imaging of glioblastomas with theaim of differentiating pseudo-progressionfrom true progression with Dr. RichardFraye at the Seaman Family MR ResearchCentre. He also developed an advancedspectroscopy sequence for metabolitemeasurement in pediatric cohorts with Dr.

Harris at Alberta Children’s Hospital, andassisted in motion robust pediatric imag-ing (Drs. Catherine Lebel and Signe Bray,Alberta Children’s Hospital) and shoulderinstability assesment by zero-TE imaging (Dr. Rick Walker, Alberta Children’s Hospi-tal). Overall, Dr. Lebel maintains an activerole in the academic and research settings,serving as an adjunct assistant professor inthe Department of Radiology in the Uni-versity of Calgary, advising on thesis andgrant committees and is recognized inter-nationally as an MR expert.

Dr. Lebel’s technical innovations havehad a significant impact on many aspectsof brain MRI including brain perfusionand imaging of myelin. More recently, hedirected his attention towards wide-spread

MR image quality issues, such as insuffi-cient signal-to-noise and ringing in imagesand invented a novel Deep Learning basedreconstruction pipeline, AIR Recon DL,which addresses these problems efficientlyby employing a deep convolutional neuralnetwork to reconstruct images with highsignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sharpnessfrom MR data corrupted with noise andtruncation artifacts. This technique willhave a tremendous impact in elevating MRimage quality across the board since it isgeneralizable across anatomies, coil setupsand field strengths. Clinically the impact ofthis new technique includes:

• SNR improvement in a given scan time;

• Scan time reduction while maintaining image quality; and

• Improvement in sharpness and resolutionThe development of this new tech-

nique, AIR Recon DL, has also fosteredclinical collaborations for evaluation andtesting globally and is considered one ofthe most impactful innovations in GE MRbusiness in recent times.

Innovation in Toronto and London, OntarioDr. Albert ChenLead Scientist 13C MR GEHCSunnybrook Research Institute (SRI),Toronto and Robarts Research Institute,London, Ont.

Over the last 12 years, Dr. AlbertChen has supported hyperpolar-ized 13C MR imaging studies with

Drs. Charles Cunningham, CharlieMcKenzie and Timothy Scholl focusingon development of MR hardware and dataacquisition/reconstruction methods. Thegoal of their studies is to further developDynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) in-strumentation and methods for clinicaltranslation of hyperpolarized 13C imag-ing. Through Federal and Provincial gov-ernment grant applications, both Sunny-brook Research Institute (SRI) and theRobarts Research Institute (RRI) wereable to leverage the cash and in-kind sci-entific support contributions from GEHCto secure further funding for their re-search activities.

Highlights of research collaborationwith Canadian GE users of hyperpolarized13C imaging:

The world’s first hyperpolarized 13Cimaging of the human heart was per-formed at Sunnybrook in 2016. Buildingon their previous pre-clinical studies, theSunnybrook team demonstrated both theimmense potential and feasibility of usinghyperpolarized 13C metabolic imaging todiagnose cardiac disease and its responseto treatment. Both hardware and softwareused in this study were developed in a col-laboration between GE and the Cunning-ham lab at SRI.

In clinical studies, hyperpolarized 13C

imaging has also been successfully trans-lated to human brain applications in bothhealth volunteers and patients withmetastatic tumors in the brain. GE collab-orated with the Cunningham lab at SRI onvarious aspects of the study, including RFcoils and data acquisition methods. Thesestudies demonstrated the potential of hy-perpolarized 13C imaging to probe meta-bolic changes due to brain function, neuro-logical diseases, as well as treatment re-sponses. Dr. Chen has been assisting theMcKenzie lab at Schulich Medicine & Den-tistry who are developing hyperpolarized13C imaging to non-invasively measure invivo placental metabolism and nutrienttransport. While this application is in anearly stage of development, the ongoingstudy is supported by an NIH U-01 grant.Both hardware, software and study protocolused in the study were developed in collab-oration between the McKenzie lab and GE.

Innovation in MontrealDr Andrew Coristine Scientist MR GEHCMcGill University Healthcare Centre(MUHC), Montreal

Cardiovascular MR (CMR) is the ac-cepted gold standard of quantitativecardiac imaging that provides key

clinical insights into cardiovascular diseasemanifestation, severity, progression, andmonitoring of therapeutic response. Instate-of-the art medical centres around theglobe, CMR plays an important and efficientrole in determining the optimal cardiovas-cular patient treatment pathway. Despite itsapparent and often unique advantages,however, CMR adoption has been relativelylimited outside of such institutions. Severalfactors are involved, but chief among themis the cost, complexity, duration and opera-tor dependency of the CMR exam.

At the McGill University Health Centre(MUHC), Dr. Matthias Friedrich has ledthe development of a novel contrast-freemethod to probe coronary vascular func-tion by assessing myocardial oxygenationvia changes in myocardial signal intensityduring breathing maneuvers. Thismethod, along with standard cine and my-ocardial quantitative mapping methods,has the potential to enable a rapid, con-trast-free, comprehensive CMR protocolthat yields a comprehensive set of parame-ters of cardiac morphology, mass, func-tion, myocardial tissue characterization,and vascular function in a single exam.

In parallel, GEHC has major develop-ment efforts underway, together with col-leagues in GE Digital and GE Global Re-search, to build an intelligent MR scannerthat automates and simplifies scanningworkflow and post-processing based ondeep learning and data analytics. This workis poised to dramatically improve CMRworkflow, which today is heavily user-de-pendent, in addition to other clinical areas.

Together with the GEHC on-site MRscientist Dr. Andrew Coristine, the team isdeveloping a rapid, standardized CMRimaging exam which doesn’t require injec-tions or other forms of stress interven-tions. This is a uniquely powerful acade-mia-industry partnership with the goal ofimproving patient care globally.

GEHC MR scientists are innovating at academic sites across Canada

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m1 4 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

GEHC’s collaborations withresearchers are making animpact on patient care andinnovation across Canada.

GE Healthcare (GEHC) has enjoyed a long-standing and productive col-laborations with imaging scientists and clinicians at academic institu-tions across Canada – in some instances leading to licensing opportuni-ties for the institution. GEHC’s history of support to academic centresincludes access to GEHC engineers, support for embedded scientists(working onsite with clinicians and scientists) as well as direct research

support for projects of strategic interest. This article will spotlight four incredibly ac-complished GEHC MR scientists who provide scientific and technical support to sevenAcademic institutions across Canada. Together the research collaborations are making animpact on patient care and accelerating innovation in Canada.

cerner.ca @CernerCanada

Embracing proactive health for better outcomesPromoting prolonged wellbeing is something that benefits us all –citizens, communities, and health organizations alike.

Wellbeing relies on a holistic view of individuals and wider populations, and Cerner can help you achieve this. Our personalized, comprehensive suite of products and services allows you to join the dots of people’s health to form a complete circle of their lives and those of their community.

With Cerner’s HealtheIntent®, you get to know your population, engage its members and manage what happens to ensure the delivery of better outcomes.

BY DR . SUNNY MALHOTRA

For decades, heart disease has been theleading cause of death in the UnitedStates, with one in four deaths amongwomen and men being attributable tocardiac causes. Many of these causes canbe managed with preventative assess-

ments. Early detection by diagnostic tools is key toreduce the severity and costs of care.

Cardiac ultrasounds provide the necessary meansto diagnose cardiac abnormalities effectively. How-ever, current conventional cardiac ultrasounds relyon the skillset of experts to recognize and identifyanatomical structures, ultimately limiting access ofsuch a tool to only a subset of clinicians with years ofspecialized training.

This limitation contributes to the numbers of car-diac-related deaths as time-efficient diagnostic toolsare not easily operable by non-specialized medicalprofessionals and thus cardiac issues cannot be de-tected and prevented in a timely manner.

Caption AI, the first artificial intelligence-enabledcardiac ultrasound developed by Caption Health,can serve as a solution to this problem.

Caption AI is an FDA approved software systemthat’s designed to direct medical professionalsthrough diagnostic tests that would otherwise re-quire ultrasound specialists.

The system begins by providing a probe position-ing diagram to assist with positioning of probes andgiving adaptive instructions to prompt users to makespecific transducer movements to capture diagnos-tic-quality images.

It is enabled with auto-capture that allows for therecording of imaging clips, completely hands-free,

and saves these clips to review later. Caption AI alsoevaluates and selects the best clips from an exam toaid in the automatic calculation of a patient’s ejec-tion fraction to assess cardiac function.

The tool guides professionals on how to place andmove the scanner to produce the best quality imagesfrom each scanning session and displays a qualitymeter to allow users to see how close they are to cap-

turing a diagnostic quality image. Caption AI pro-vides real-time feedback on exam quality in additionto automated quality assessments allowing forthe standardization of quality of care.

Furthermore, Caption AI allows profes-sionals the flexibility to create and followcustom workflow-based or indication-based protocols that are best suited to theirpractices. Caption AI is fully integrated withthe Terason portable ultrasound system,

which allows for a full range of clinical applications. On a related cardiological note, Eko, a collabora-

tion of scientists, specialists, and experts based inSingapore and the Netherlands, has developed anFDA approved AI stethoscope that can help practi-tioners better assess patient-care by aiding in the de-tection of heart murmurs, atrial fibrillation, andother cardiac sound abnormalities otherwise diffi-cult to diagnose during routine physicals.

Recently, the company has introduced Eko.ai, anintegrated machine learning software that predictsand treats early-stage heart diseases. Although Eko.aiis still in development, the platform of Eko.ai pro-vides tools to improve cardiovascular research. Itaims to reduce the amount of time required for diag-nostic purposes and can classify and quantify framesfrom patient exam videos.

Caption AI and Eko.ai can simplify ultrasounds ofthe heart, allowing those from the most advanced

to the most resource-constrained medicalpractitioners equal opportunity and accessto high-quality, consistent, and inexpen-sive ultrasound analysis.With guided assistance from AI-assistedcardiac ultrasounds, healthcare profession-als can utilize these tools as a mainstream

staple to fight in the early detection and pre-vention of heart diseases. These innovations

are aimed at providing healthcare profes-sionals with enhanced, time-saving,

and reliable instruments tostreamline workflows and re-duce the burden on over-worked specialists allowingfor more productivity andeffective healthcare.

VI

EW

PO

IN

T

Conventional cardiac ultrasonography requires the skillset of an expert.

Caption AI allows non-specialists to conduct meaningful echocardiograms

Dr. Sunny Malhotra is a US trained sportscardiologist working in New York. He is anentrepreneur and health technologyinvestor. He is the winner of thenational Governor General’sCaring Canadian Award 2015,NY Superdoctors Rising Stars2018 and 2019. Twitter: @drsunnymalhotra

Caption AI can direct medicalprofessionals through diagnostic teststhat would otherwise require ultrasound specialists.

Environmentally sustainable healthcare leads to better outcomesBY SIMON HAGENS

AND DR. NICOLE SIMMS

What happens when a pan-demic meets a heat wave?This is a question that

many jurisdictions are asking them-selves this summer, weighing theneed for emergency cooling centresagainst the continued need for phys-ical distancing.

Climate change affects various hu-man activities, including healthcare.The effects of climate change are arisk factor for worse health outcomes,whether through direct impacts suchas heat-related illness, or indirectlythrough factors like poor air qualityand floods. Healthcare organizationsinternationally have identified climatechange as the greatest threat to globalhealth in the 21st century.

In turn, the healthcare system hassignificant effects on the environ-ment. If the global health system werea nation, it would be the fifth largest

emitter of CO2. While the bulk ofthese emissions arise from the pro-curement of medications and equip-ment, the energy needs of infrastruc-ture and health-related travel com-prise a substantial portion as well.

There is a central paradox. Whilethe healthcare system is responsiblefor maintaining health, by contribut-ing to climate change, it adds to aproblem that puts health at risk.This is a significant issue in Canada,which ranks third in per capitahealth system emissions globally.

However, the increasing use ofvirtual care holds promise for reduc-ing carbon emissions. According toInfoway’s 2019 Access Digital HealthSurvey, Canadians in rural areas trav-elled an average of 24 km to theirregular place of care, while their ur-ban counterparts travelled an averageof 13 km, both significantly largerdistances than the approximately 4-7km travel break-even point (depend-ing on vehicle fuel efficiency) needed

to offset the relatively minor carbonemissions of virtual care.

These carbon savings are magni-fied in Canada, where our notori-ously fuel-inefficient vehicles can bereplaced with virtual care technologyrunning on energy from our largelynon-emitting power grid.

If half of in-person visits were re-placed by virtual visits, carbon emis-

sions would be reduced by 325,000metric tons – savings equivalent totaking more than 70,000 passengervehicles off the road for a year. Atthe height of the COVID-19 pan-demic, approximately 60 percent ofvisits were conducted virtually, ei-ther by video, telephone or SMS.

From past studies, we know thatpatients with access to their personalhealth information are more confi-dent in managing their care, particu-larly with respect to chronic condi-tions. Virtual care can provide ameans to improve continuity of careand help manage conditions beforethey worsen, leading to fewer hospi-tal admissions and/or emergency de-partment visits.

The COVID-19 crisis has openedspace in which to reassess how we de-liver care. By making environmentalsustainability an integral part of ourhealth system post-COVID, we cansecure better health outcomes for pa-tients and the planet. We can alsoavoid making our next healthcare cri-sis an environmental one.

Simon Hagens is Group Director, Per-formance Analytics, at Canada HealthInfoway. Dr. Nicole Simms is Manag-ing Director of the Centre for Sustain-able Health Systems, in Toronto.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, about60 percent of visits wereconducted virtually.

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m1 6 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

V I E W P O I N T

BY LAURIE LAFLEUR, MBA, CI IP

Despite the explosive growth ofartificial intelligence in health-care in recent years, deployingAI in clinical practice is still a

complex undertaking. There are numerousalgorithms available – each with its owndistinct use case and value proposition.

Determining which AI applicationswill provide the most ‘bang for yourbuck’ requires thoughtful evaluation andidentification of your organization’s ownunique challenges and objectives. As well,it’s important to consider how AI will in-tegrate into your existing technologiesand day-to-day operations. Applicationsthat fragment workflow or introducecumbersome steps rarely achieve success-ful adoption – especially among busyclinicians.

There are a number of AI deployment

success stories and cautionary tales thatcan educate us.

The first example involves computer-aided detection (CAD), which was first in-troduced to assist radiologists in identify-ing potentially cancerous lesions in digitalmammographic images that might other-wise be undetectable to the human eye.This technology evolved over time and hasbecome a mainstream tool that is beingused as a method to detect and monitorbreast cancer worldwide.

Now marketed as computer-aided diag-nosis (CADx), this technology has evolvedagain and is not only able to detect lesionsbut can now suggest a diagnostic classifica-tion for lesions on both 2D and 3D breastimages.

A large teleradiology network deployedthis technology in late 2019 in cooperationwith their hospital partners and is activelyutilizing the CADx results as a secondary

overread. While successful, the deploy-ment wasn’t initially smooth.

Much like when CAD was originally in-troduced, there were some growing painswhen the AI algorithms were refined toperform accurately and consistently

against various imaging modalities, breastdensities, and patient ethnicities, etc.

Working closely with the algorithm de-veloper, the site has seen positive perfor-mance improvements and trust amongphysicians is slowly increasing.

Unfortunately, progress has stalled dueto operational changes related to COVID-

19, but the organization is optimistic thatthe technology will ultimately reduce readtimes and accelerate time to treatment,provide a higher degree of sensitivity andspecificity in diagnosis, and decrease thenumber of unnecessary call-backs relatedto unclassified or missed findings.

Shifting focus from diagnosis to work-flow management, we can discuss a multi-hospital network that is leveraging imageanalysis algorithms to identify and priori-tize clinically critical findings such as in-tracranial hemorrhage and pulmonaryembolism in diagnostic imaging exams.

Once identified, the exams area auto-matically elevated and flagged at the top ofthe radiologist’s worklist and alerts aretriggered to ensure clinically urgent casesare interpreted immediately and patientsreceive treatment without delay.

Because the AI algorithms were focusedon very specific use cases and were trainedagainst a highly varied dataset representinga diverse array of device manufacturersand patient populations, they performedrelatively accurately against local datasetsupon initial integration.

As well, the AI was able to integrateseamlessly into radiologists’ existing work-flow, resulting in minimal training re-quirements and making application roll-out and user adoption quick and easy.

The full deployment was achieved in amatter of weeks, and physicians quickly re-alized the benefits, reporting two cases inthe first month alone that, without the AIin place, could have resulted in missed ordelayed diagnoses.

Unfortunately, not all AI deploymentshave been sunshine and roses. There are as

What we can learn from both successful and failed deployments of AI

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

MONTREAL – Compared tomany other branches ofmedicine, psychiatry mightappear to be a dubiouscandidate for telehealth,

where bonds are forged with screens andkeyboards, rather than in the privacy andintimacy of the doctor’s office.

And yet, long-distance counselling hastaken root and flourished at the JewishGeneral Hospital – and more widelythroughout CIUSSS West-Central Mon-treal – since the lockdown came into effectin March for the coronavirus (COVID-19)pandemic.

“I’ve noticed that the quality of the ses-sions and, in some ways, the nature of thetherapeutic relationship improves when ithappens virtually,” says Dr. Marc Miresco,a psychiatrist and director of Adult Psy-chiatric External Services in the Instituteof Community and Family Psychiatry atthe JGH.

“This may sound counter-intuitive, butit’s true. The fact is, many patients initiallyfeel somewhat shy or reserved aboutopening up to a mental health profes-sional, even though we try to be as recep-tive as possible and encourage them tospeak freely.

“For these patients, there’s somethingabout using their own computer in theirown environment at home that makes iteasier and more comfortable for them tosay what’s really on their mind.”

“Many patients – especially if they’renew to therapy – may also feel nervousabout possibly being stigmatized,” addsTung Tran, director of the CIUSSS’s Men-tal Health and Addiction Program.

“The benefit of telehealth is that theydon’t need to go to the hospital and betreated in a psychiatric setting, so they feelmore comfortable and less self-conscious.If they feel secure at home, they’re moreinclined to express their thoughts andemotions, and more open to talking aboutwhat’s happening in their lives.

“Of course, this means that as a profes-sional, you have to make some adjust-ments and learn what to do when you’re in

front of a screen. For example, eye contactis extremely important, so you have lookinto the camera and really talk directly tothe patient. It’s not something we do in-stinctively, but if it’s done properly, it canbe very effective.”

“Psychiatry and mental health are actu-ally the low-hanging fruit and the mostobvious candidates for telehealth,” addsDr. Miresco. “We’re one of the only – if notthe only – medical specialties where wedon’t need to place our hands on our pa-tients to examine them.

Before COVID-19 struck, says Mr. Tran,

telehealth was not an option for Quebecpsychiatrists, because the Ministry ofHealth rarely remunerated doctors forwork that was done remotely with a digitalconnection. By contrast, telepsychiatryhad already been introduced in some otherparts of Canada and the United States.

However, as the threat of a pandemicloomed in February, the governmentchanged its policy and allowed payment tobe made to physicians who practice withtelehealth. In addition, safeguards were putin place to ensure the security and confi-dentiality of the online tools.

Tele-psychiatry helps clients open up to their therapists

It’s important to consider how AI will integrate into yourexisting technologies and day-to-day operations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare: Understanding and Managing the Legal and Ethical Risks

October 5, 2020 - Online, Live & InteractiveIncludes 120-day access to the program archive

With the onset of a global pandemic, the imperative to innovate in the healthcare sector is even more pressing.Get a practical overview of how AI is (and can be) used in healthcare, along with the knowledge and skills you need to innovate in your organization.

Register today at:

osgoodepd.ca/ai-healthcare

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y 1 7

FE

AT

UR

E

RE

PO

RT

BY DIANNE DANIEL

Depending on who you talk to – orwhere you live – the COVID-19pandemic is either bringing com-munities down or building themup. For those driving innovation inCanadian healthcare, the virus is

proving to be a collaboration catalyst, bringing to-gether funding organizations, researchers, vendors,clinicians and patients themselves to work on life-changing ideas, such as leveraging technology to‘check in’ on people as they shelter at home.

Two examples are a new $1.4-million DigitalTechnology Supercluster project that combines re-mote monitoring technology with a private socialnetwork to keep outpatients healthy and supportedat home; and, a Roche Canada COVID-19 Innova-tion Challenge project that is using artificial intelli-gence to monitor and predict asymptomatic virus-related changes in seniors with the goal of preventingfuture long-term care outbreaks.

“The silver lining of COVID is how much every-one is leaning in and saying, ‘How can we help?’” saidLynda Brown-Ganzert, founder and CEO of Vancou-ver-based Curatio Networks Inc., the lead vendor onthe Supercluster Stronger Together: Social Infra-structure for Community Healthproject. The project’s primary goalis to pivot traditional, in-personoutpatient programs to an effectiveonline model.

“We want every patient on theplanet to have the type of supportthey need to achieve their besthealth outcomes,” said Brown-Ganzert, “There’s a lot of evidencethat shows that having that peersupport in place, and having a com-munity around you, helps.”

Curatio’s private social networkplatform provides curated contentabout specific health conditions, dig-ital tools to help manage those con-ditions, and a secure way to connectwith others who are “just like you.”Privacy and regulatory compliant, itworks like a social plug-in, givinghealth providers a tool to remotelyconnect their patients to evidence-based programs and peer support groups. Patientsdownload the app to their smartphone and the com-pany works behind the scenes to power the platform.

Curatio can be tailored to support a variety ofhealth challenges, including chronic diseases, rareconditions, lifestyle issues or neurological disorders.Under the Stronger Together banner it is combiningwith proprietary remote patient monitoring hard-ware and software developed by Kitchener, Ont.-based Cloud DX to monitor and communicate withapproximately 25,000 outpatients each week.

The project – in partnership with Age-Well NCE,OnCall Health, Zu.com, Wellness Garage, Pacific BlueCross, University of British Columbia, UniversityHealth Network and Simon Fraser University – aimsto give hospitals, doctors and community organiza-tions a new way to deliver rehabilitation and diseasemanagement programs. Curatio addresses the socialisolation aspect by bringing together curated online

communities, and the Cloud DX Connected HealthKit provides easy-to-use, medical-grade devices to re-motely track and monitor symptoms and vitals suchas blood pressure, weight and cardiac functions.

“When you look at the strengths of both productson paper, it’s like peanut butter and jelly,” said CloudDX president and CEO Robert Kaul. “You’ve got thecommunity aspect, you’ve got friends and familyconnected, and yet when required you have that veryrobust, medically valid and clinically accepted datafrom the home to help clinicians make better deci-sions about patients.”

One of the providers participating in Stronger To-gether is Dr. Michelle Scheepers, an anesthesiologistand quality improvement advisor within B.C.’s Inte-rior Health Authority, in conjunction with UBCSouthern Medical Program’s Faculty of MedicineCentre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Manage-ment. Interior Health quickly ramped up its virtualhealthcare services in response to the pandemic. Thisproject, supported by the Physician Quality Improve-ment Initiative and Interior Health, will provide agroup of joint replacement patients the opportunity

to trial Stronger Together during their preparation fortheir upcoming surgery by using virtual technology.

Starting with roughly 20 to 25 hip and knee re-placement surgeries, Interior Health will use Curatio tocreate a curated, peer-supported online environmentthat will guide patients through their surgical journeyand support them in achieving pre-op goals advised bytheir physician, such as weight loss, smoking cessationor blood pressure management. The pilot program willsupport the health authority’s ongoing surgical opti-mization work, which included the launch of an out-patient “surgical school” where patients met face-to-face in groups led by a nurse navigator and occupa-tional therapist prior to the pandemic.

“Surgery is a team sport. There are multiple play-ers in preparing a patient and the patient needs todrive that process as well,” explained Dr. Scheepers,also a physician advisor for Interior Health’s Physi-

cian Quality Improvement (PQI) Initiative. “Ouroptimization work has really looked at restructur-ing the process so that we’re able to get our patientson-boarded earlier with opportunities to improvetheir chronic disease comorbidities that will be rel-evant and effective in improving their surgical out-comes,” she said.

Using Stronger Together to support virtual pre-surgical optimization, is the project partners arenow building a leading-edge social prescribingplatform that Dr. Scheepers expects will live ononce COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The patient-centred online tool is being co-designed with inputfrom a patient advisory board and focus groups,she said, and in addition to peer support andteaching, will offer “nudges” to change behaviouralong with tools for self-monitoring. At the sametime, it will provide a safe, online platform forsharing between hip and knee surgical candidatesin the region and will eventually include post-op-erative monitoring as well.

“Within medicine, we’re finding that social deter-minants of health really have a significant impact,”said Dr. Devin Harris, Interior Health executive med-ical director, Quality and Patient Safety. “Having a so-cial prescribing platform, meaning a communitythat’s curated to be able to assist with navigation for

something like surgery, is where wecan have a lot of impact froma quality and safety lens.”In addition to improved pa-tient and family satisfaction,reduced length of stay andreduced risk of infection, so-cial prescribing also increasessatisfaction among surgeonsand anaesthesiologists who“see their patients show uphealthy and well, and men-tally prepared,” he added.In time Stronger Together isexpected to expand to in-clude recovery programs inmental health, anxiety, re-turn-to-work after short-term disability, and diseaseprevention and management,said Kaul. In the meantime,he estimates 10 to 15 percentof the 25,000 weekly outpa-

tients participating in the platform will requiresymptom and vital sign monitoring at home, basedon a case by case basis.

“They might get only the blood pressure cuff orpulse oximeter or the entire kit,” he said. “Our plat-form will be monitoring them at home and that datawill flow up through our cloud-based infrastructureinto the joint Stronger Together platform.”

At McGill University in Montreal, researcherSamira Rahimi is on a mission to remotely monitoranother community group: seniors. After watchingthe rapid and devastating spread of COVID-19 inlong-term care facilities across Canada – particularlyin Quebec and Ontario – Rahimi decided to focusher research on saving the lives of the elderly andearlier this year her project was chosen as one of 11to receive funding from the Roche Canada COVID-19 Open Innovation Challenge.

The goal is to use remote monitoring technology

Social networks are being deployed to keep patients better informed and healthy at home.

The COVID-19 crisis has spurred the use ofremote monitoring and networking

ILLU

STRA

TIO

N:

LIN

DA

WEI

SS

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m1 8 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

C O N T I N U I N G C A R E

to facilitate early COVID-19 symptom de-tection, combining artificial intelligencewith smart wearable sensors that measureparameters such as body temperature,blood pressure, sleep patterns, activity leveland blood oxygen levels. Once collected,data is sent in real-time to a computer plat-form for automatic analysis, based on algo-rithms developed by researchers, and whensomething appears “off ” an alert is sent,prompting care providers to check on theresident in question.

“We are targeting three months of datacollection and hope to catch the secondwave of COVID-19,” said Rahimi, an as-sistant professor in the Department ofFamily Medicine at McGill University. “Ifa second wave comes, we’ll be able to pre-vent the outbreaks and reduce the infec-tion and mortality rates in long-term carefacilities.”

The funded research – referred to asAiCoV19 – involves graduate students andresearchers from Herzl Family PracticeCentre and Lady Davis Institute for Med-ical Research at Jewish General Hospital,Donald Berman Jewish Eldercare Centre,University of Toronto, Ryerson Universityand McGill. Vancouver-based Agartee isproviding the connected health devicesand technology for symptom monitoringand the COVID-19 symptom thresholdsare being defined based on observations inthe latest research as well as input fromclinicians and caretakers.

Overall, the project is targeting 60 to 80seniors at long-term care facilities in Mon-treal and Toronto. Residents who enrol inthe study will wear sensors from July toSeptember, in the form of either a smartwatch or patch. As data is collected, the re-search team will refine their early detec-tion algorithms with the intent of having ascalable version of the monitoring solutionready for the fall.

One advantage is that system doesn’t re-quire Wi-Fi. Rather, it relies on a built-incellular connection, communicating viamodems that are easily placed throughouta long-term care facility as required, ex-plained Rahimi. No human intervention isrequired until an alert is received.

Montreal’s Jewish Eldercare Centreis one of the long-term care facil-ities participating in the research

effort. Attending physician Dr. Mark Kara-nofsky said the goal is early detection tobetter contain spread of the virus as well asto provide better care to those who are in-fected. Loss of appetite and dehydrationappear to be early signs of the disease in theelderly, he explained, so the hope is to iden-tify and isolate infected residents early, andthen offer nutritional and fluid interven-tion to help them fight the virus.

“What’s interesting about this project isthat it is using things that are measurableand then trying to get a machine to learnwhat a predictor of illness is,” he said. “Wenow know higher temperatures and oxy-gen levels going down are a sign of illness,but there are more subtle changes thatthese sensors could pick up.”

Though each measured parameter onits own might not be able to predict risk ofCOVID-19, the ability to apply machinelearning to analyze the data collectively isthe real differentiator, he added.

“Jewish Eldercare is one of the centresin Quebec that was hit by COVID-19. We

had a lot of residents who tested positiveand one of the things we always lament iswas there a way to identify who was goingto be positive earlier,” said Dr. Karanofsky.“… I do hope for the patients who enrol inthis study that early on, if there is a changein their temperature or oxygen levels,they’ll be more easily flagged.

If the project proves successful, Dr.Karanofsky expects to find other uses for

remote monitoring in long-term care suchas monitoring for aspiration pneumonia, acommon condition among seniors. Healso suggested that remote monitoring forvitals could result in time savings, freeingstaff to focus on other aspects of care.

At Interior Health, Drs. Harris andScheepers also see endless opportunitiesfor remote technology moving forward,such as vitals monitoring of COVID-19

patients as they isolate at home. The tech-nology could serve as a home check-in andpatients would only be sent to hospitalwhen symptoms escalate, keeping hospitalresources at a sustainable level.

“I think the last few months havechanged the way we do and offer medicine,”said Dr. Scheepers. “We’ve been able to seethat remote care can be done safely and ap-propriately. How can we build from here?”

Removing barriers to outstanding patient-centred healthcare, today and every day

Find out more at thinkresearch.com

Bring leading clinical knowledge into your

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y 1 9

C O N T I N U I N G C A R E

BY SARAH QUADRI

Mary is making importantchoices – at home. She’s beendoing that for over 70 years.“I choose survival, it’s always

been that way for me,” said Mary, an artist,who loves gardening, collects old newspa-pers and makes her home in a 19th cen-tury, restored barn in Ontario. “As a baby, Iwas thrown between haystacks during theSecond World War, when bombers flewover England. I am also a ‘phantom twin’ –I’m the one who survived; I am destined tosurvive.”

These days, Mary’s “survival” is aboutmaking the choice of how to receive care athome for a foot wound, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The wound is the result of avenous leg ulcer that developed post-surgery to repair her broken ankle, after shefractured it in the winter of 1995, when shefell while walking on a friend’s icy driveway.The wound flares up every so often.

SE Health is nurturing Mary’s commit-ment to making “choices,” while caring forher wound. As her home care provider andone of Canada’s largest healthcare organi-zations, SE Health is keeping client choiceat the forefront of delivering care, evenduring these uncertain times. In March,when the pandemic began, SE Health wasquick to mobilize their virtual care strat-egy, ensuring clients like Mary had“choices” and confidence in receiving care.

“We strongly believe that home is thesafest place to receive care – during a pan-demic and always,” said Mary Lou Acker-man, vice president of Innovation and Vir-tual Care Lead at SE Health. “This meansunderstanding our clients’ needs and ensur-ing an optimal experience for our clientsand staff. Care always comes first, that’s ourcommitment – for over 100 years.”

Keeping that “optimal experience” topof mind, SE Health’s virtual care strategywas developed with the intent to ensurethat all clients continue to receive safe,quality and personalized care in the waysthat work for them and their families, us-ing communication tools they already feelcomfortable with, such as the telephone,email, text and/or video.

“We’re extremely proud of our teamsfor collaborating and pivoting quickly tobe able to offer our clients an outstandingvirtual care experience that meets theircare needs, promotes continuity in careand ensures client and staff safety throughphysical distancing,” added Ackerman.

For Mary, that care experience has beenextraordinary. She began with in-personvisits last November, but when the state of

emergency went into effect, she was afraid.SE Health put Mary’s care and concern first.

“As the days passed, and COVID-19 be-came more serious, I could sense Mary wasuncomfortable with having anyone in herhome,” said Melanie Brown, SE Health reg-istered practical nurse and Mary’s careprovider. “I assured Mary that I wouldcontinue to provide exceptional care fromafar in the same ‘twice a week’ format andexplain how to apply medication, dress-ings and even a Coban wrap. We embarkedon a virtual care journey in early April andwe haven’t looked back.”

“Melanie Brown is absolutely amazing;she’s the epitome of an excellent, caringnurse,” said Mary. “When I send her pho-tos of the wound, she calls me on the tele-phone and we look at the photos together.

Melanie explains the measurement andpresentation of the wound, if there’s beenprogress, any challenges we may be facingand step-by-step instructions on how tocare for it. The support is wonderful andMelanie is very patient, knowledgeable andempathetic – I am so happy.”

Mary is one of thousands of SE clientschoosing (and benefiting from) virtualcare. As such, SE Health is closely monitor-ing feedback and results.

“We are always looking for ways toreimagine care for our clients and fami-lies,” said Ackerman. “From our researchand the feedback, we’ve noted that woundcare, chronic disease management and pal-liative care are among the most commonpractices that fit well with virtual care. Asautonomous practitioners, our nurses andtherapists are well positioned to providevirtual care; they work independently inclients’ homes, have incredible assessmentskills, know the right questions to ask anduse their clinical expertise to guide theclient through their care needs.”

As part of the virtual care strategy, SEHealth is also utilizing an InteractiveVoice Response (IVR) or ‘Robocall’ solu-tion that pre-screens clients for COVID-19 risks and allows them to share theirpreference for their home care visit: vir-tual or in-person. SE Health nurses andtherapists work with clients to adjusttheir care plans and ensure the client’svoice and choice is at the forefront.

“We also recognize that not all care ele-ments can be delivered virtually, addedAckerman. “In some cases, our cliniciansdeliver a hybrid model where in-personand virtual visits work together to meetthe client needs, while at the same time re-ducing risk.”

SE Health staff are also benefitting

KITCHENER, ONT. – A grey-hairedwoman slowly shuffles her walkertoward a huddle of giggling resi-

dents. Her face is blank when she noticesthat her peers are sweeping their armsacross a large black and white projectionof spring flowers on a tabletop.

Magically, the flowers are turningvibrant colours with each pass of anelderly hand.

Within a minute of observation thewoman joins in and begins moving herarms to “paint” flowers too. She smiles asshe reaches and waves her arms acrossthe tabletop. Her normally stiff limbs re-lax and her body flows as she enjoys thegroup activity.

A scene like this no longer surprisesHildy Nickel, administrator of the La-nark Heights Long Term Care facility inKitchener, Ont. In fact, she has seen itenacted multiple times since her facilityintroduced the Mobii Magic Surface toits 160 residents two years ago.

“The Mobii is fun for our residents,and it involves more movement thanmost of our other activity offerings,” says

Nickel, who likes to stay current with thelatest technology. “We offer exercise pro-grams, colouring, puzzles and manyother activities. But the Mobii is some-thing different that always creates spon-taneous smiles and laughter.”

The Mobii is a small, self-containedportable projector that houses a wealthof rich and stimulating activities forolder adults, including those with de-mentia. The motion-activated, interac-tive tool uses images, games, quizzes,colour and music to evoke memories,stimulate conversation and encouragephysical activity.

The technology makes it enjoyableand easy for people to move their bodiesand to interact with the world aroundthem. It also allows them to have somecontrol over their environment.

Designed by sensory technologycompany OM Interactive, and winner inthe Outstanding Dementia Product cat-egory in the U.K.’s Dementia CareAwards, the Mobii can be easily wheeleddirectly to groups of residents in com-munal areas or to individual bed-bound

residents. Images can be projected ontoa tabletop or onto the floor for largergroups and games.

The floor projection is ideal for thosewho are able to ambulate. For example,they can walk or wheel across a virtualnature trail, scattering leaves along theway. Non-ambulatory residents can en-

joy the same experience using their feetfrom a seated position.

Its versatility is appreciated by staffmembers. They can adjust the volume,control the object speed, and easily cre-ate custom content with photos of fam-ily members or special events.

Residents can push tiny seashells,resting in shallow tropical water, into apile. They can watch the water rippleand listen to the sounds of the sea.

Or toss a beanbag into a puddle.Watch and hear the splashes.

They might wipe away the image ofan old-fashioned candy shop with ahand or baton to reveal childhoodsweets, or use a feather duster to wipeaway steam and reveal a train with ac-tual family members peering out thewindows.

They can tap on moving eggs andcrack them open, using hands, feet, acane or a walker.

Care homes report that while thephysical activity and powerful visualshelp improve their residents’ physical

Mobii Magic Surface brings joy to Lanark Heights Long Term Care

Client choice driving compassionate and personalized care at SE Health

Melanie Brown, a Registered Practical Nurse with SE Health, provides foot care for a home-care client.

The award-winning Mobii Magic Surface motion-activated projection system, which easily glidesto users, encourages physical activity and stimu-lates conversations.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m2 0 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

C O N T I N U I N G C A R E

BY JOHN LEE-BARTLETT

There’s no question about it:COVID-19 has affected every pieceof the healthcare continuum – espe-

cially the clinical staff and, most impor-tant, patients everywhere. The past monthshave brought forth changes in point-of-care workflows and have created a height-ened sense of urgency for virtual solutions,such as telehealth offerings.

There has never been a time that thislevel of change has been so universally rec-ognized. At Allscripts Canada, we recog-nize those needs, are acting on them andhave many clients using an array of solu-tions in Canada that are helping addresschallenges in community care as well aspopulation health demands.

Allscripts has a wide variety of innov-ative solutions that drive everything fromEHR efficiencies, patient engagementand care coordination to analytics andinteroperability across entire connectedcommunities.

Our population health suite of solu-tions, Allscripts CareInMotion™, helpshealthcare organizations build open, con-nected communities of health by enablingusers to know their populations, translate

that knowledge into action and managepatients across all care settings.

A fully interoperable platform, it seam-lessly delivers harmonized information tothe native workflow at all points of care, socare teams can coordinate care across thecommunity, make better informed deci-sions and ultimately deliver more thor-ough, connected population care.

One specific case of excellent care coor-dination across the community can befound at Fraser Health Authority, thelargest health authority in British Colum-bia. Fraser is using the Allscripts dbMo-tion™ Solution, part of the CareInMotionsuite, with its community physicians.

dbMotion provides Fraser communityphysicians access to continuous care capa-bilities. Aneet Sahota, manager of e-HealthServices, says, “Community physiciansmay be coming in and working within ourhospital sites or community sites, and thenwhen they go back to their office, they maybe still looking after those patients, and soproviding access through their office sys-tem also supports them in terms of beingable to access that information as theyneed it.”

With the dbMotion solution in placesince 2014, Fraser Health Authority clini-cians are making relevant clinical informa-tion from disparate systems across the re-gion and province available at the point ofcare. dbMotion aggregates, harmonizesand displays patient data in a comprehen-sive record, which Fraser Health uses togain a complete patient record, reduce du-plicate testing and inform clinician deci-sions across the continuum of care.

Furthering the conversation on how we

help clients drive better care coordinationacross their communities and beyond, it’simportant to mention Allscripts® Care Di-rector, also a part of the CareInMotionplatform.

Care Director is a web-based, cloud-hosted solution enabling high-acuity carecoordination across all healthcare settings.It helps healthcare organizations buildstructured care plans centered on the man-agement of a patient’s specific healthcareneeds. These care plans can be viewed, ac-tioned and shared by a multidisciplinarycare team positioned across the healthcontinuum.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CareDirector has been effective within the

Allscripts client base by creating a targetedcare roadmap for patients to follow athome. With evidence-based care guide-lines in place, clients can track and haveoutreach opportunities built into a pa-tient’s care plan.

These patients may have no desire tophysically come into a hospital or com-munity facility to follow up on their care.Custom dashboards have been created toidentify these patients, track them into apoint of actionability and create customcare plans.

With this tool in place, Allscripts isseeing organizations actively managepopulations with more than 500 percentmore patients leveraging this outreach

than what we’ve seen pre-COVID-19. As an organization, Allscripts is proud

to answer the call to advance the care ofCanadian citizens through innovativehealthcare IT solutions. Allscripts has a 36-year history of providing innovative solu-tions to the Canadian and global health-care market, with the Canadian headquar-ters based in Richmond, BC, and morethan 9,000 global associates. To learn moreabout how Allscripts solutions can helpyour organization drive the best care pos-sible, visit www.allscripts.com, or reachout directly to Canada@Allscripts.com.

John Lee-Bartlett is Country Director,Allscripts Canada.

Allscripts connects the parts of the care continuum with innovative solutions

Using dbMotion, Fraser HealthAuthority is making informationfrom systems across the regionavailable at the point of care.

Dementia care blooms with MindfulGardenBY ARIELLE TOWNSEND

A typical MindfulGarden therapysession begins with scenes of

clear blue skies and butterfliesfloating peacefully through

fields of white gerberas and purple lilies.The aim? An alternative approach to de-mentia care that focuses on compassion,dignity, and empathy.

MindfulGarden is a unique digital ex-perience that de-escalates agitationamong people living with dementia inhospitals and long-term care settings.Founder and CEO, Catherine Winckler,was inspired to create the platformalongside co-founder, Mark Ross, whenher own mother passed away from undi-agnosed delirium and overuse of re-straints and psychotropic drugs in 2000.Since then, Winckler has fought hard topreserve her mother’s legacy throughthe creation of MindfulGarden.

“MindfulGarden began as an explo-ration on how to use digital technologyto ‘interrupt’ hyperactive delirium be-haviours in the highly vulnerable popu-lation of frail elderly patients in hospi-tal,” Winckler says in her blog. “Theseare patients who, like my mother, couldgo downhill quickly post-surgery or onadmittance to the hospital with urgentunderlying conditions.”

Today, caregivers use MindfulGardenmore widely to reduce agitation andpsychotropic drug use, and to promote amore positive journey back to health.

Up to 90% of people living with de-mentia are affected by behavioral andpsychological symptoms such as agita-tion and aggression, which can becaused by changes in environment, mis-perceived threats, or disruptions in rou-tines. Medication is traditionally used toaddress these symptoms.

Yet, significant evidence suggests thatnon-pharmaceutical interventions maybe a gentler and more effective tool forarresting negative mood and behaviourchanges in dementia patients.

Cue MindfulGarden – a digital solutionthat not only reduces the need for medica-tion, but also calms patients enough fortheir caregivers to investigate what may becausing the agitation in the first place.

MindfulGarden responds to each pa-tient’s individual distress level. Whensomeone exhibits distress cues in theirvoice, heart rate or gestures, Mindful-Garden reacts by displaying soothingimages, such as iridescent butterflies andblooming flowers, which helps to redi-rect their anxiety. The higher the anxietylevel, the more responsive the images onscreen become.

Ross believes the digital platform is ef-fective because it works without being in-vasive or forcing patients to interact withit. “Most people at a heightened sense ofanxiety don’t want to be told how to re-lax,” he adds. “We strip all that down andcreate a calming experience, one that isreacting to what’s going on in the body.”

After years of creating immersive in-

teractive environments for major organi-zations, such as the Olympics, Wincklerand Ross were invited by their localhealth authority to leverage their technol-ogy as a resource for caregivers. The Cen-tre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation,powered by Baycrest (CABHI), helpedthe company make the switch from en-tertainment to healthcare by brokering arelationship with Good Samaritan DeltaView Care Centre. Here, they could vali-date their platform’s effectiveness as analternative tool for traditional de-escala-tion methods requiring medication.

Shahida Devji, a retired assistant sitemanager at the Good Samaritan DeltaView Care Centre, and previous onsiteproject lead for MindfulGarden, says theplatform helped her staff strengthen theircommitment to a “hugs not drugs” policy.

“At the Good Samaritan Delta ViewCare Centre, we always try to exhaustour options before going down theroute of medication,” says Devji. “Whenwe tried MindfulGarden with our pa-tients, it gave us goosebumps. It’s suchan amazing tool that visually calms yourhead and your mind.”

In today’s changing healthcare climate,it’s even more critical for caregivers tomanage their patients’ responsive behav-iours and potential to cause self-harm orharm to staff. That’s why Ross andWinckler are working to get their solu-tion into the hands of those who need itthe most. They are working with localhealthcare providers to launch Mindful-Garden on tablets and provide trainingto caregivers as part of their immediateCOVID-19 response plan.

As for the future of MindfulGarden, itwill continue to represent Esther Winck-ler’s legacy. The team remains commit-ted to developing healthcare technologythat enhances quality of care and pre-serves patient dignity. As they bring theirproduct to market, we will see thebroader impact of this solution, one thatbenefits people living with dementia,and those who care for them the most.

Arielle Townsend is Marketing & Com-munications Content Specialist, Centrefor Aging & Brain Health Innovation. MindfulGarden is a unique digital experience that de-escalates agitation among people with dementia.

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y 2 1

A

many, if not more, cautionary tales wheredeployments met with insurmountablechallenges related to clinical acceptance,data readiness, and inconsistent perfor-mance. One such example was a five-hos-pital system that deployed two AI applica-tions as part of a larger enterprise imaginginitiative, neither of which made it pastclinical acceptance testing.

The first was an AI system that was in-tended to extract contextual informationfrom the EHR and re-present it withinother clinical applications to provide amore seamless workflow for physiciansand deliver a complete and comprehensive

overview of patients’ history and clinicalconditions.

Unfortunately, while the algorithm per-formed well in the vendor’s lab environment,and even at a couple of their initial clinicalsites, the reporting patterns at this particularhospital system resulted in data that couldnot be accurately interpreted by the AI.

Worse, the vendor did not have suffi-cient quality controls in place to validateon-site accuracy pre-deployment or on anongoing basis (should the deployment havegotten that far). These inaccuracies wereidentified during the throes of a larger go-live initiative, resulting in a lot of frustra-tion among already stressed physicians anda loss of confidence in the vendor.

The second application was an AI sys-tem to identify potential mismatches be-

tween a patient’s reported symptoms andtheir final diagnostic results.

For example, if a patient was admitted tohospital for pneumonia with reportedsymptoms of shortness of breath and fever,

yet chest imaging results came back negative,the AI would flag the results as a possiblefalse-negative and recommend a secondaryreview or possible subsequent imaging.

While possibly clinically useful, the retro-spective workflow required busy radiologists

to go back and re-read studies a second time– sometimes 24 hours later. This duplicationof effort was rejected by the radiologists,who noted that if the AI had been able toproactively suggest the possibility of a posi-tive finding based on reported symptoms itcould have achieved broader acceptance.

Ultimately, neither of these AI applica-tions made it into clinical practice, high-lighting the importance of data and work-flow validation and integration for suc-cessful AI deployment and acceptance.

There’s no question, AI holds huge po-tential for improving how our healthcaresystem delivers care to Canadians. As thesecase studies demonstrate, the key to successlies in identifying the AI use cases that willbring the most value to each unique clini-cal environment, ensuring workflow is wellintegrated and augments the quality andefficiency of our clinical teams, and con-firming controls are in place to validate AIaccuracy and performance before, during,and following deployment to maximize thevalue and benefits of your investment in AIand foster user acceptance and adoption.

Laurie Lafleur is a seasoned healthcare in-formation technology (IT) consultant withnearly 20 years of relevant experience insoftware engineering, product marketing,and business strategy in the Healthcare ITand imaging informatics industries.

from the organization’s commitment tovirtual care.

“We have tremendous resources andsupport internally for our teams,” saidAckerman. “Our Clinical Practice Re-source Team (CPRT) is a group of highlyspecialized, Registered SE Health Nurseswho provide direct, clinical support, 24/7,365 days a year, to our staff working in thefield. The virtual team and the on-site/vir-tual care provider access the same digitalplatform to view a patient’s medical his-tory and work together to find the bestcare solution.”

As for Mary, the results of her virtualcare are outstanding in more ways than one.

“Mary’s original (vascular) wound,healed,” said Brown. “From my experience,those are some of the hardest wounds toclose. Our conversations also changed. Inhome and community care, the connec-tion with our clients is always there be-cause we are delivering care in people’shomes, but the connection becamestronger, being in a pandemic and deliver-ing care virtually,” added Brown.

“We talked about Mary’s feelings andhow to cope during COVID-19, livingmostly in isolation and Mary’s fear aboutleaving her home. Mary also lost a relativeand her dog in the past few months, it’sbeen a very difficult time. I’m proud to bedelivering holistic care and ensuring the

mental, emotional and physical well-beingof my clients at all times.”

As Mary resumes a combination of in-person and virtual care visits, she ex-plained that overall, she feels more “incharge” of her care and acknowledges SEHealth’s commitment to client “choice” ascritical in her care journey.

“Virtual care is the future; and being able

to choose how to receive that care is para-mount. I often joke that I could be Melanie’sassistant as I now have the confidence to carefor myself, at home. I made some mistakesalong the way but I also got great results. It’san enormous sense of accomplishment.”

Sarah Quadri is Director, Corporate Com-munications, SE Health.

fitness, they also reduce apathy, stressand anxiety.

With the Mobii, these visuals can in-clude greenery, birds, trees and gardens.Research shows that nature experiences –even virtual versions – can boost emo-tional well-being and awaken feelings ofhappiness and peace.

For family members, interacting withthe Mobii helps remove the pressure ofstruggling to make conversation with anelderly loved one. Family visits are moreexciting for everyone when they know thatthey can play together with the Mobii.

A 2018 research study of 89 care homesin the U.K. found that 96 percent of re-spondents would recommend the Mobii.Additional findings showed that:

• 90 percent of respondents felt the Mo-

bii had a positive impact on their resi-dents’ physical ability, participation andmovements; and

• 75 percent felt the Mobii had helpedtheir most withdrawn residents

General survey comments were equallyenthusiastic: “Our residents love it!”“Their lives are more fulfilled.” “They

don’t notice they’re being physically ac-tive.” “It brings residents out of them-selves.” “It’s great to see them interactingwith each other.”

There is a current move away from the

idea that long-term care homes are solelymedical treatment centres.

“Stimulating and engaging all olderadults, especially those living with demen-tia, with meaningful person-centered ac-tivities is so important in care homes, cen-tres and hospital settings,” said Gwen Rose,vice-president of Toronto-based SensoryOne, and North American distributor ofthe Mobii Magic Surface and other innov-ative and unique sensory products.

“There’s a strong move toward an emo-tion-based model of care, which focuseson the idea that a long-term care home is aresident’s home,” said Rose, who practisedas a physiotherapist in long-term care forover 14 years. “With this model, there’s anadded focus, beyond providing basic care,of helping people to live well by givingthem a sense of belonging and opportuni-ties for vibrancy. The Mobii stimulatesphysical, cognitive and social engagementand contributes to emotional well-being.”

At Lanark, staff members particularly ap-preciate the Mobii’s portability and versatility.

“If a resident is having a tough day, theycan easily take the Mobii directly to thatperson and then have dozens of activityoptions to choose from,” says Nickel.

It helps staff members more easilymake a connection with residents by stim-ulating conversation, activity and fondmemories. For withdrawn residents, it en-courages them to interact and communi-cate with others.

And at Lanark, it is not just theresidents who are benefiting from thetechnology.

“We’ve included the Mobii in familycouncil meetings, a staff holiday luncheon,and several other staff events,” says Nickel.

For more information about the MobiiMagic Surface, contact Gwen Rose 1-877-232-3320, gwen@sensoryone.com or visitwww.sensoryone.com.

life of the device(s), and soap orsanitizer levels.

“Stats can be viewed by anyone au-thorized to see it,” Fernie explained.“Anyone wearing a badge can log into aWeb application on their computer, cellphone or iPad, and view a dashboarddisplaying a graph of how they did overthe last seven days, how the unit is do-ing on average and how they compare.”

Buddy Badge can improve hand hy-giene in more than just hospitals; it canbe used effectively in long-term care in-stitutions, the food industry, airlinesand schools.

“Everyone talks about hand hygienecompliance, but our emphasis hasshifted to calculating exposure,” said

Fernie. “COVID has increased the mon-itoring of exposure in healthcare work-ers. The attempt is to reduce exposureto patients and to fellow colleagues sothey don’t take it home and get sick.”

There are other hand hygiene systemson the market, but most of them only

count. And they don’t tell you if staffwashed their hands at the right time, inthe right place and who did it. More-over, none are suited to long-term carefacilities where residents spend most oftheir time in common spaces such asdining and recreation areas.

In September, Hygienic Echo will beinstalling its first demonstration systemsso people can see what they look like,and how they might work in their ownenvironments. They’re also looking forinvestment opportunities to help extendtheir reach into other markets like theU.S. and Europe.

The current pandemic has provenpoor infection control is more than justan expense to healthcare facilities; it canbring down entire economies. “It’s wiseto do everything you can to lower trans-mission of infection. Not just in health-care but in the food industry, travel andbusiness in general.”

There’s also a growing issue withanti-microbial resistance – bacterial in-fections. In Canada, as much as 26-per-cent of people die from an untreatablebug. That number may rise to 40-per-cent by 2040.

Hand hygieneCONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Deployments of AICONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

The Buddy Badge system can tell you who washedtheir hands, at whichlocation, and who didn’t.

The equipment allows residentsto be actively engaged in anactivity. It boosts interactionand makes them feel better.

While the algorithm performedwell in the vendor’s lab, thereporting patterns in thehospital were not accurate.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

Mobii Magic Surface brings joy to Lanark Heights LTC

Client choice driving compassionate and personalized care

h t t p : / / w w w . c a n h e a l t h . c o m2 2 C A N A D I A N H E A L T H C A R E T E C H N O L O G Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

Read allabout it.

SUBSCRIBEELECTRONICALLYVISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.canhealth.com

Signature required for authenticity purposes only. All data must be supplied for subscription to beprocessed. Publisher reserves the right to determine qualification. Valid only in Canada.

C O M P L I M E N T A R Y S U B S C R I P T I O N R E Q U E S T

Your organization’s business or industry?

Hospital

Health region

Long-term care institution

Home care

Clinic

Government

University

Computer or software vendor

Telecommunications vendor

Medical device vendor

VAR or systems integrator

Education

Finance/insurance

Consulting/legal

Public relations

Other

If you are employed by a hospital,which of the following categorieswould best apply to you?

CEO/President/VP/Executive Director

Finance

MIS

Medical Director

Physician

Purchasing

Nursing

Pharmacy

Radiology

Pathology & Laboratory

Human resources

Health records

Public relations

Quality assurance

Other

(PLEASE PRINT)

Name

Title

Company

Address

City

Province Postal Code

Telephone

Fax

E-mail

Signature Date

Canadian Healthcare Technology, published eight times peryear, is sent free of charge to managers of hospitals andclinics, and executives in nursing homes and home-careorganizations. Qualified subscribers need only periodicallyrenew their subscription information to ensure continueddelivery of the magazine. Please take a minute to completeyour renewal and make sure Canadian Healthcare Technologykeeps coming to you – absolutely free.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE:FILL OUT AND SUBMIT THE FORM ONLINE AT www.canhealth.com/subscribe

or FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW AND FAX IT TO 905-709-2258

YES, I want to receive/continue to receive Canadian Healthcare Technology magazine.

IF YOU HAVE SUBMITTED A SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS, EITHER ONLINE OR BY FAX, PLEASE DISREGARD THIS NOTICE.

ca.medical.canon

In partnership with University of Toronto Medical Imaging and Joint Department of Medical Imaging (JDMI), we are pleased to announce the Advanced Imaging Education Centre (AIEC) Canon Medical Virtual Lecture

Proud Supporter of AIEC Virtual Lectures 2020

• • •

Visit ca.medical.canon to register for the fall program.