IT Downtime – A Cultural Shift.

With the mounting evidence of benefits and incentives to digitize clinical information, healthcare organizations are increasingly reliant on information technology (IT) to deliver services. This reliance warrants organizational awareness and preparedness for IT downtimes such that in times of system outages, staff can continue to perform their work. At University Health Network (UHN), the responsibility of IT downtime preparedness does not lie solely with IT: the combination of organizational preparedness, incident management and a standardized recovery model has enabled UHN to handle major IT downtimes.

Establishing an antimicrobial stewardship program.

Hospitals are faced with increasing challenges of antibiotic-resistant organisms and rising antimicrobial costs despite widespread attention to infection prevention and control measures. Government, professional organizations and accreditation bodies are all signalling an urgent need for the establishment of programs in hospitals to address antibiotic misuse. Although variations of such "antimicrobial stewardship programs" have been functioning in Canada for some time, a formal approach using change management and quality improvement principles has largely been lacking.