Tuesday October 2nd,
2:00 – 5:00 pm

On May 28, 2007 Canada Health Infoway announced that funding for the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) to lead the project: Inclusion of Patient-Centred Clinical Outcomes In EHRs.

This project will:

• Normalize the nursing clinical care terminology used by three provinces to the national clinical terminology standards (i.e. SNOMED-CT),
• Capture nursing-sensitive, patient-centred, clinical outcomes information across four (4) sectors (acute care, complex continuing care, long-term care and home care) of the health system,
• Store the captured data in jurisdictional EHRs using a national standard for clinical terminology, and
• Lay the foundation for the addition of clinical outcomes from other disciplines and for other sectors.

The partners with CNA in this project are: Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan.

This presentation will provide the background to this initiative with an overview of the evidence supporting the recommended outcomes. The proposed methodology for the electronic collection and abstraction of the nursing-sensitive outcomes in each province will be explored. The implications of including nursing information on provincial databases will be examined with a focus on patient safety, quality of care and accountability. Finally, this paper will describe how this project is providing a single approach for coding information that will support interoperability, consistency, and comparability of clinical information that is reflective of nursing practice across the health care system.

Peggy White has an extensive background as a health care leader in the acute care sector. Peggy has published numerous articles in healthcare journals on nursing-sensitive outcomes. She co-authored a chapter on Patient Safety in Nursing-Sensitive Outcomes: State of the Science and a chapter on Nursing Leadership in Quality Work Environments for Nurse and Patient Safety. Peggy is the Project Manager of the Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the National Project Director on the C-HOBIC initiative.

Dr. Kathryn J. Hannah is a nurse and a senior, health informatics consultant specializing in information management in health environments. With over 30 years of experience in academia, health care delivery, government and the private sector, Dr. Hannah has a rich depth of knowledge and experience in health care delivery organizations, the health system and in nursing.

Currently, Dr. Hannah participates actively in the Canadian Delegation to the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 215 on Health Informatics. Dr. Hannah is a member of the Standards Collaborative Strategy Committee that is responsible for coordinating health information standards in Canada.