I am pleased to present the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) results for the final quarter (January-March 2008) of 07/08 . First, I want to say how encouraging it was to see that we exceeded our targets in the Employee Opinion Survey (EOS). I was also pleased to see the number of participants in the clinical manager succession program – many of whom have already gone on to achieve positions as clinical managers.
Our attention to wellness as well as the cooperation of our unions is reflected in our impressive reductions in sick time. However, we will continue to monitor the voluntary staff turnover numbers.
Hospital-acquired infections pose a significant challenge in the health system and have certainly received significant media attention this year. We have met our targets for MRSA and VRE, however, we still have significant concerns about our C. Difficile numbers. Going forward, proper hand washing and good housekeeping will continue to play important roles as we improve our C. Difficile rates.
I'm delighted that our severe and critical medication errors have decreased dramatically – and by dramatically I mean less than half of the previous year and well below the target. This is a credit to the multidisciplinary attention to medication errors provided by Pharmacists, Nurses and Physicians. Thank you to all the members of our Safe Medication Practice Committees who have worked hard to achieve these results.
In our "Creative" domain, the number of citations to our research publications met the target, confirming UHN's role as Canada's premier research hospital. The research hospital accomplishments were facilitated by meeting targets in non-Ministry revenue generation and balancing the operating budget.
Another crucial 'Accountability' measure is the completion of discharge summaries and operative notes in a timely fashion. We're below target in completing 80 per cent of discharge summaries – which is a challenge – however our operative note completion is very acceptable.
Remarkably, we trained 3538 health professional students at UHN, which exceeds our target of 3100. We also exceeded our targets in increasing educational grants.
The most challenging area remains improving our ED performance. I'm happy we showed an improvement in the percentage of low acuity (CTAS 4 and 5) patients discharged in four hours, however, we continue to have major problems with flow from the ER to in-patient units. This has resulted in failing to meet our targets for higher acuity CTAS 1-3 patients. This also results in occasional cancellation of surgeries due to bed spacing issues.
One of the main issues contributing to the flow problems is the proportion of ALC patients on our units. As you'll see in the BSC, we've failed to meet our targets in decreasing ALC patients.
Finally, I'm really pleased that our unadjusted mortality rates have fallen. This indicator provides an important summary for how safe our hospital is and thankfully, mortality is decreasing. To read more about the Q4 results please click hereXXX.
In the next few weeks we'll describe new areas of focus for the 08/09 Balanced Scorecard. You'll be please to see that "delivering safe, patient-centred care in an integrated care delivery environment and ensuring that we have the best people to deliver our strategies," will remain front-and-centre on the Scorecard.
Thanks to everyone for your continued contribution to making UHN Canada's premier research hospital.
Bob
