Patient Safety Initiatives 

At Quinte Health, we strive to provide the best care possible, created with patients and their caregivers, our teams, and communities. We aspire to use innovation, imagination, and technology to enable the best care possible. That’s why we are embarking on a number of initiatives around patient safety. The following are just some examples of our patient safety programs: 

• We are working toward the implementation of a new, common regional Hospital Information System with six hospital partners in the southeast region. The project is called “Lumeo”. Having access to information and data through Lumeo will support clinicians with a single repository of the person’s health history, treatment plan, treatment outcomes and access to the same clinical pathways, regardless of where care is provided. Lumeo unites care teams under the highest standard of care, making it easier to collaborate and offer timely, quality treatment. All members of a person’s care team can access up-to-date health information as soon as it’s needed. Information is available from every touch point, and it follows a clear standard. 
• Quinte Health has a Falls Prevention Program that helps identify and monitor patients at higher risk of falling. The program promotes a partnership between patients/families and the care team to help reduce falls, while respecting a patient’s dignity and decision-making regarding individual risks. 
• One tool used to ensure safety and a positive patient experience is a surgical safety checklist.  A surgical safety checklist is a patient safety communication tool that is used by the team of operating room professionals (nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and others) to discuss important details about each surgical case. In many ways, the surgical checklist is similar to an airline pilot’s checklist used just before take-off. It is a final check prior to surgery used to make sure everyone knows the important medical information they need to know about the patient, all equipment is available and in working order, and everyone is ready to proceed. 
• A non-urgent transportation service was created in 2007 to ensure the safe and appropriate transportation of patients and help ensure timely access to care. 
• Quinte Health introduced OmniCell drug dispensing machines in 2002 and started putting bar codes on its medication in 2007. This provides enhanced safety measures to ensure the right dose of the right drug is dispensed to the patient. We also have a robust medication reconciliation program throughout our hospitals.