Newsletter Winter 2010

Message from the President

First, I would like to say thank you for giving me the pleasure and privilege of assuming the president role during a milestone year, our thirtieth anniversary. What a testament to the tenacity of our nursing informatics leaders! I also want to extend my appreciation to the ONIG executive, a group whose contributions make ONIG what it is: a thriving, innovative and ambitious interest group. According to an RNAO colleague, Karen Ellis-Scharfenberg, ONIG is a leader in terms of our membership, activities, and influence within the nursing community. Kudos to us!

As I reflect back on the past year, our accomplishments were truly remarkable. Under the skilled leadership of President Andrea Partridge, the executive developed a new website, initiated strategic planning, provided stellar educational offerings at several strategic locations across the province, and provided networking and sharing opportunities supporting novice to expert informaticians in their efforts to develop further knowledge and skill. We also contributed to the development of the RNAO Peer 2 Peer Strategy, an initiative that will facilitate ehealth education and knowledge sharing, participated in the anadian Nursing Informatics Conference preconference Peer 2 Peer workshop, and sponsored two RNFOO scholarships, supporting our colleagues in their pursuit of advanced education.

Richard Booth and Anna Morgado were instrumental in developing and sustaining our website, and we are fortunate enough to have their ongoing commitment and involvement on the executive, which will be key to activities planned for 2010. Richard and Anna, thank you for your commitment to ONIG! Without you we wouldn't have the web presence we enjoy today.

Natasha Ringhofer demonstrated superior organizational skills, establishing a process to help guide our efforts to deliver quality education days, a legacy that will benefit future Education Coordinators as they continue to deliver phenomenal learning opportunities for our members. Our Local Area Representatives (LARs) all demonstrated a desire to enhance communication with our members and facilitate sharing of experiences and lessons learned.

As we look ahead to activities planned for 2010, two key themes stand out: further strategic planning activities and celebration of our 30th anniversary. My commitment to you as your 2010 President is to facilitate recognition of our milestone anniversary and enable effective strategic planning by providing leadership to the executive and membership, ensuring ONIG's position is recognized as a well informed and influential expert body through strategic liaisons with associations such as RNAO and CNIA, and aiding establishment of an effective marketing strategy that promotes broader awareness of ONIG's expertise and capacity to enhance ehealth provincially and nationally.

I look forward to working with all members as we continue to brand ONIG as an expert organization and establish a stronger presence at discussion tables; making a difference for all nurses in Ontario and beyond.

Lynn

ONIG Celebrates Thirty Year Anniversary!

The Ontario Nursing Informatics Group (ONIG) was formed in 1980 and achieved RNAO status as an affiliate group in 1991. That means we have been influencing informatics for 30 years! Our current membership totals 257, with representation in all 14 LHINs.

A committee, led by Natasha Ringhofer, will be planning activities to celebrate this milestone. Ideas being explored include celebration activities at the RNAO AGM, Nurses Week and a gala event at the AGM. If you are interested in collaborating on the planning, please contact Natasha Ringhofer.

Upcoming Events

April 9, 2010 ONIG Education Day - Grand River Hospital in Kitchener

Grand River Hospital

Kitchener-Waterloo Site

835 King Street West

ONIG Strategic Planning Update

Strategic planning has been underway since last Spring. With assistance from RNAO, the executive has created a plan that has four strategic intentions:

To enhance membership involvement and partnerships
To promote ONIG's involvement in emerging health informatics issues
To promote awareness of ONIG
To create a strong sustainable organizational infrastructure

Some of the activities that will be undertaken to accomplish the intentions include:

Enhancing strategies to ensure that ONIG is consulted on provincial and national informatics issues
Developing partnerships with key stakeholders
Enhancing strategies that inform stakeholders about ONIG's mandate and activities
Marketing the work of ONIG with healthcare students
Considering changing the group's name
Engaging in succession planning for the executive
Ensuring long term financial stability of the interest group
Reviewing by-laws on an annual basis

A number of subcommittees have been created to work on the activities. The goal is to have a complete plan ready for presentation at the 2010 AGM. The working document is posted on the ONIG website under the Membership tab_ONIG Executive_Minutes of Meetings 2010_January 26, 2010 for your review. If you are interested in working with the executive, or want more information, please contact Lynn Tkac.

RNAO February eHealth Month Activities

What's New with RNAO's Nursing and eHealth Program

2010 Nursing and eHealth Champion Network

The dates for the full-day Stage 1 and Stage 2 Nursing and eHealth Champion workshops have been confirmed! Stage 1 eChampions are engaged in awareness-raising, mentoring, and eHealth implementation. Stage 2 eChampions take a lead role in eHealth implementation activities with nurses and other health care professionals. There will be 8 Stage 1 workshops in the next two months.

Please see the flyer and application forms for Stage 1 workshops. To register for Stage 2 workshops, please contact Jackie Boyce at jboyce@rnao.org.

RNAO eHealth and Nurse Managers Consultation sessions

The RNAO will be hosting five one-hour teleconference consultations during the last week of February with nurse managers about eHealth and its impact on nursing. Your views are important! Get involved in the future of nursing. Nurse Managers Consultation flyer.

Nursing and eHealth Webinar

RNAO will be hosting a free one-hour webinar during the month of February featuring guest speakers Maureen Charlebois (Canada Health Infoway) and Irmajean Bajnok (RNAO) discussing eHealth in Ontario and its involvement with nursing on February 23 at 10am. To Register.

Check out the latest edition of the eHealth for Every Nurse eNewsletter at www.rnao.org/eHealth. Over 5000 nurses have taken the RNAO;s Nursing and eHealth online Education Program! To join their ever-increasing numbers, please log on today at www.rnao.ca/eHealth_Course.

The eHealth Toolkit

The eHealth Toolkit provides a user-friendly, evidence-based reference for nurses and other health care professionals taking a leadership role in integrating eHealth technology into nursing and health care practices within their organization. The Toolkit is available to order for $50 plus shipping. Download form.

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New Executive Members - Bios

Lynn Tkac - President

Lynn Tkac, ONIG's current President, is a Project Manager at Rouge Valley Health System, an acute care community hospital serving east Toronto and west Durham region. She has over 30 years experience in the health care sector, with a current focus on clinical informatics. Lynn provides clinical leadership that supports the evolution of the electronic health record (EHR), and represents health care professionals in the planning and implementation of projects promoting electronic access to and management of information that supports quality patient care. Lynn is also actively engaged in efforts to promote the EHR regionally and provincially, serving on several advisory boards and informatics interest groups. Lynn is a founding member of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association, and is on the editorial board of the association's journal. She is a Registered Nurse, with a BA (Health Sciences) from York University, and a Master of Health Studies, Athabasca University.

Margaret McCormack - President Elect

Margaret has worked within healthcare for over 25 years. She started her nursing career in General Medicine and over 16 years gained experience in Medicine, Rehab and Oncology. In 2000 she switched focus to Informatics and began working on the CPOE Project at Mount Sinai. Over the next five years she worked on various projects including: Interfaces, Staff Scheduling Software and other special projects. Margaret managed the Health Informatics Team at Lakeridge Health for 3 years and is the current Manager of Clinical Health Informatics at the The Scarborough Hospital.

Virginia Ellis - Treasurer

Virginia is currently a nurse in Clinical Informatics at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ontario. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Windsor, Ontario and over the next 16 years developed expertise in Critical Care. When an opportunity presented itself in Clinical Informatics, Virginia embraced the transition and has since gained expertise as the workload measurement specialist and as applications specialist for the Meditech PCS module. Virginia's professional affiliations include acting as Local Area Representative (LAR) with ONIG, an eHealth Champion with the RNAO and the CNA designate for the Canada Infoway Standards Committee.

Deborah Haggman - Education Officer

Deb is a Decision Support Consultant at the Grand River Hospital and supports evidenced based best practice and quality health care through use of health data, information and knowledge management. Deb is an RN who has worked in the U.S. and Canada in Neonatal Intensive Care, Medicine, Surgery and Dialysis. Prior to moving to Decision Support, Deb was a Clinical Informatics Analyst in Grand River Hospital's Information Services Department. Deb is an RNAO eHealth Champion and serves on the Ontario Nursing Informatics Group (ONIG) executive as the Education Officer and was past LAR for the Waterloo Wellington LHIN.

Alison Mahony

Alison Mahony is the Clinical Informatics Lead at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. A Registered Nurse for about 15 years, Alison has worked in a number of sectors and in a variety of roles within the health care system. Alison holds a baccalaureate degree in English and Philosophy from McMaster University and is currently working on her Master of Science degree in eHealth at McMaster University. Alison is credentialed as a Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute. Alison is passionate about the potential transformative powers of clinical technologies, and is proud to be an RNAO eHealth champion. A member of the CE LHIN eHealth Steering Committee, Alison also founded and chairs the CE LHIN Clinical Advisory Group, which provides a clinical leadership and oversight for regional clinical technology initiatives, with a focus on professional practice and best practices.

Ines Jowitt

Ines Jowitt, RN,BScN has 20 years experience in Health Care at Lakeridge Health and holds a certificate in Health Informatics from York University. As a critical care nurse, Ines was involved in the content development of the electronic documentation system for Lakeridge Health Oshawa and its subsequent revisions. In 2000, she spearheaded the electronic submission of data to the Critical Care Research Network of Ontario--the first site to go electronic. In the role of Clinical Informatics Consultant, Ines designs, builds, and supports the electronic documentation screens for all clinicians at Lakeridge Health.

Liz Nemeth

Elizabeth (Liz) Nemeth is a Manager of Clinical Practice for Healthtech Consultants Inc. She has over 24 years experience in health care with a particular focus in management of clinical operations, professional staff development and shared governance. Liz has demonstrated strong communication and interpersonal skills, with proven leadership, management and organizational abilities. Liz has been actively involved in building infrastructure for computerized clinical documentation systems. Liz has taken on the lead role in implementing multi-site clinical portal technology and integrating multiple applications through this portal. LIz has also been involved in diabetes care, developing a patient with provider portal for the diabetic population in South Western Ontario and has been involved in the evaluation of the same portal for the Department of Health in New Brunswick. Currently, Liz is involved in BPR/change management and is the clinical lead for the Nova Scotia Provincial Surgical Wait Time Initiative. Liz is currently the President of the Nursing Leadership Network of Ontario; a Board member of ONIG, a member of COACH, HIMSS Ontario Chapter, and PMI. She is a Registered Nurse with a Master of Nursing Degree (Administration) from the University of Toronto, holds a Bachelors of Science in Nursing Degree from Ryerson Polytechnical University and is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society.

Josie Purslow - LAR Central West

Josephine is an Operating Room nurse at the Etobicoke Campus of the William Osler Health System since 1986. She is a team leader in Orthopaedic Surgery. Josephine is a member of ONIG and a ONIG LAR and Peer to Peer Leader for the Central West LHIN. She is also a member of the Operating Room Nurses Association, RNAO and American Operating Room Nurses

Shelly Mitchell - LAR Alternate Central West

Shelly Mitchell is a Registered Nurse and Clinical Analyst at William Osler Health System. Before coming to WOHS, Shelly was the Systems Clinical Coordinator responsible for the electronic medical record for the Department of Neonatology at the The Hospital for Sick Children.

Shelly is currently involved in two areas at WOHS. The provider portal is a joint collaboration between Halton Healthcare Services, Credit Valley Hospital, Headwaters Healthcare and Trillium Health Centre where clinical information from all organizations is aggregated into a single view. As an analyst for this application, Shelly advocates for the development of a clinical view that meets the needs of the multi-disciplinary team. Within the Department of Cardiology, Shelly's main focus is Interventional Cardiology where she strives to ensure that the applications for each modality provide value to the clinicians through availability, accuracy and integration of clinical information and to coordinate clinical design work.

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News from our Members

Joseph Brant Emergency Department Goes Online

Sent by Jeannie Borg RN ENC(C), Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital. Jeannie is currently the Professional Practice Leader for the EDM Project. She has been an RN since 1997 and has a varied background including surgical nursing, community nursing, emergency nursing and has been working in nursing informatics for the past 4 years.

Recognizing the demands that the Emergency Department Wait Time reporting would place on the Emergency Department to produce and report data, the improved quality of documentation and patient safety to be gained, Administration decided to forge ahead with implementing the Emergency Department Module (EDM) software, a suite of tools that would take all aspects of the ED online. In June 2009 the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital (JBMH) Emergency Department (ED) went LIVE with an electronic tracking board and online triage. A short 6 months later, in November 2009, Emergency Department nursing documentation went LIVE. The ED is the first program at JBMH to go online.

The core EDM Project Team consists of Emergency Department RNs who bring a critical understanding of ED culture and processes, which has been key to the successful implementation. The staff working in the JBMH ED have been tremendously supportive and flexible; they have adopted and continue to integrate the new electronic process into their daily practice. The staff's feedback and suggestions are highly valued by the Project Team and are often put into practice.

Since going LIVE with the EDM, JMBH has seen improvements in the overall quality of Triage documentation, documentation of home medications, medical history and allergies, identification of triage modifiers and pain scores. The impact of online nursing documentation in the ED has yet to be evaluated but we are expecting measurable improvements! Phase 2 of the EDM implementation includes CPOE and online documentation by the ED physician group. We don't have a timeline yet but we are hoping to be one of the first in the province to go LIVE with this exciting project.

Joseph Brant is a 260 bed full service community hospital with 13,800 admissions and over 46, 000 ED visits per year. The hospital catchment area includes a quarter million people in and around Burlington.

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LAR Updates (Local Area Representatives)

News from LHIN 1 - Erie St. Clair

News from LHIN 9 - Central East

Membership Registration and Information Updates

Please remember to renew your membership if you have not done so for the November 1, 2009 to October 31, 2010 year. Registration form.

RNAO registration for ONIG - We ask that you go to the ONIG Membership form and complete it as an information Update for us so that we have a list of all our members including information that RNAO may not ask.

If you are a current member and your contact information has changed please use the registration form to make the changes.