Good Monday morning,
I'll start by introducing a new section of my weekly update:
a spotlight on safety to highlight our shared commitment to Caring Safely at UHN and recognize the great work of our staff. UHN is a large place and we should be proud of the good catches that happen every day – I am doing my best to learn about as many of them as possible and hope you'll assist in educating me. Here's what was brought to my attention recently:
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Wet floors increase our risk of slips and falls and unfortunately they've become a more persistent issue this past week at UHN. Our sites and teams in Facilities, Occupational Health and Leanna Graham (who co-leads the Falls HAC (hospital-acquired condition) working group) are discussing potential solutions. If you see water on the floor, please contact our colleagues in facilities so they can have it taken care of.
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Toronto General (TG) hovered at OCP (overcapacity protocol) level 4 last week indicating high patient volumes which means higher safety risks for both patients and staff. I'd like to recognize our teams in the Emergency Department and inpatient units, as they've been making heroic efforts to manage the additional surge of patients while handling the pressure of discharging patients safely.
Princess Margaret (PM) also reported similarly high OCP levels last week and I must express sincere thanks to our staff for their diligent efforts to deliver the safest care to our patients.
Both TG and PM are collaborating closely with our teams at Toronto Western and Toronto Rehab to find opportunities for support, emphasizing the importance of leveraging the combined strength and resources of TeamUHN.
- Finally,
I learned of several good catches this past week including one that involved the clever use of a staff member's car –
read the highlights here. My plan is to find additional ways of learning about everyone's good catches including the ones in non-clinical realms such as Digital so stay tuned.
We also wrapped up our annual appreciation BBQs, the last one being at Toronto General.
Sincere thanks to our staff, physicians, researchers, learners and volunteers across all our sites for your consistently great work. I'd also like take this moment and apologize to my colleagues at Toronto Rehab's Lyndhurst site. In last week's message when I expressed regret over missing the Lyndhurst BBQ, I mentioned visiting their site when I haven't yet – I was thinking of my visit to the Lakeside site. I look forward to meeting Lyndhurst staff in October. Grateful to those who spoke up so I could make this correction.
Next, let us take this moment to pause out of deep respect and
acknowledge the passing of Dr. Terry Kavanagh, a Canadian pioneer in cardiac rehab who founded Rumsey Centre. Dr. Kavanagh will be remembered for his significant contributions to the field of cardiovascular care and leaves behind a lasting legacy. Our thoughts are with his family and closest colleagues.
Finally, I hope you'll join me at
my next Open Forum on Thursday, Sept. 27 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Michener auditorium – 222 St. Patrick Street). I suspect some of you may want to know more about the recent changes to our organizational chart at UHN so I will be joined by
Gillian Howard (Vice President, Public Affairs & Communications) who will help ensure I address the topics you care about most. Livestreaming will be available
here on Chrome and Firefox browsers and I'll be answering the questions with the most votes during the hour. I'm also preparing to launch my anonymous Q&A page containing written responses to questions previously asked so stay tuned.
Have a good week,
Kevin
