Ahead of the Game

There are always trailblazers implementing the latest ‏technology, experimenting with management styles ‏and putting the latest best practice in place. There ‏are too many leading lights to name here, but HealthManagement. ‏org has created a round up of facilities and individuals ‏in healthcare - leaders who have caught our attention ‏because of their efforts in taking steps toward the ultimate ‏goal – better patient outcomes without compromising ‏the bottom line. Could these examples point toward where ‏healthcare management and best practice are heading?

Digital Hospital

Opening its doors in autumn last year, Humber Valley Hospital ‏(HRH ) in Toronto, a 26-acre site, provides a broad range of ‏healthcare services. The HRH 656 bed facility boasts a pneumatic ‏tube delivery network, automated supply delivery systems ‏incorporating robots and a pneumatic transport system for ‏soiled laundry and linen that connects to external haulage units. ‏The aim of these features was to save 164 kilometres per ‏day of walking time and a potential 2 million dollars in annual ‏operating costs.

HRH also gets points for focusing on energy consumption ‏– one of a hospital's biggest expenses. The hospital ‏was designed with focus on the implementation of energy ‏recovery measures and efficiency in operating protocols while ‏not compromising on delivery of 100 percent fresh air to all ‏hospital areas (HO K 2015).

Cutting Edge Operating Rooms at U-M

In June, the University of Michigan (U-M) Health System ‏opened four new state-of-the-art operating rooms (OR s) at ‏University Hospital. The new surgical premises implement ‏technology that includes surgical positioning systems, new ‏microscopes, 3D image-guided navigation systems and robotics. ‏The new OR s are primarily being utilised by the neurosurgery ‏and Orthopaedic surgery departments.

Particularly exciting, two of the new OR s will allow neurosurgery ‏to expand their services in complex cranial and spinal ‏surgery. The other two will provide a more efficient layout for ‏robotic-assisted joint replacement surgery and 3-D image guided ‏spinal surgery.

An encouraging example of cross-collaborative teamwork, ‏the designs of the rooms were a result of ongoing employee ‏feedback (U-M 2016).

Population Health Management

Population health is one of the current buzzwords in healthcare ‏but most providers are playing a waiting game on implementation. ‏But with the risk for population of patients moving over ‏to a provider, health systems need to have good knowledge ‏about the patients they are caring for.

How do you manage when you are treating a patient outside ‏your health system? Anne Arundel Medical Centre in Annapolis, ‏Maryland, combines use of a state-designated health information ‏exchange and an EHR system vendor's data-exchange ‏platform to move patient information across health systems. ‏It then imports it into its own EHRs.

They’ve partnered with a local hospital in another health system ‏and set standards on the transmission of critical clinical data ‏allowing them to display real time care alerts between hospitals. ‏The facility was one of this year’s Hospital and Health Networks ‏Healthcare’s Most Wired winners for its innovation (H&HN 2016).

Robotic “Flight Simulator” Surgery

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RP CI) in Buffalo is changing ‏robotic techniques surgical training by moving from procedure ‏practice in a live to simulated environment. A collaboration ‏with Buffalo’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and ‏RP CI’s Centre for Robotic Surgery they are introducing RoSS ‏(Robotic Surgery Simulator) into training.

RoSS is often compared to flight simulation for pilots. Debuting ‏in 2010, this gives training and professional surgeons the chance, ‏through real-world views of actual robotic technique surgeries ‏to make mistakes in a simulated rather than a real environment. ‏Honing skills in a simulated procedure increases the ‏chances of succeeding when in the real world and when a life ‏is at stake on the operating table.