It was a long,
but satisfying day.
From the
early-morning set up to the take down in the evening, the 2nd annual
Quality Improvement & Patient Safety (QuIPS) Conference, presented by the
Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s University of Toronto Chapter, provided
ample opportunity to discover the breadth of health care system innovations
occurring in Toronto and beyond.
Held May 5 at the University of Toronto,
the conference drew about 140 delegates from across universities in the greater
Toronto area. Presentations from professionals and students alike highlighted
the many initiatives being undertaken to improve health care delivery throughout
Ontario, from developments in e-Health, to mobile phone applications for
children with diabetes, to improvements in hand washing compliance.
Most gratifying, however, was seeing the
projects done by the many students present, displayed for the whole conference
to see. I was incredibly proud that the work my team had done was one of these
projects. Over the better part of the last academic year, five students from
various health care-related backgrounds, including myself, have been engaged in
a quality improvement project at one of the major hospitals in downtown
Toronto. We had the chance to work on a program to improve physician adherence
to well-established guidelines on the prevention of serious blood clot
formation in the legs of non-mobile patients. We had an opportunity to see how
frequently physicians were considering this risk, and to initiate interventions
in one department aimed at improving the rates of risk assessment. While
results are still preliminary, it does appear as though there was an
improvement after these interventions.
After months of dedication demonstrated by
my teammates and our in-hospital support, it was very rewarding to not only
have our poster be viewed by so many influential individuals. (Having our
efforts recognized by being voted 2nd in the conference poster
competition was simply icing on the cake.) It was a fitting culmination to over
half a year of hard work overcoming challenges to make improvements to the
health care system in our community.
The QuIPS conference was an excellent venue
to share our story and learn from others, and I can express nothing but
appreciation for being given the chance to do so.
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