On the second day of the deployment of the Digital Health Record (DSN), the authorities seem satisfied with the turn of events in the two organizations concerned, the CIUSSS of North Montreal Island and the CIUSSS of Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec.
From Saturday morning until 2 p.m. on Sunday, nearly 10,683 people connected to the DSN, including 6,940 during the day on Sunday.
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Erika Bially, Vice-President of Information Technology at Santé Québec, explained that she had the opportunity to go out into the field on Sunday and meet with several resources from Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec.
She indicated that no major incidents had been detected since Saturday at 4 a.m. However, she acknowledged that users had encountered some minor problems.
“We have observed some latency in the network connection,” Bailly explained. “So, we have teams that are fully mobilized and are proactively intervening to correct the situation .”
“To give you an example, [on Saturday] we had a bandwidth of 2 gigabits, we are now at 10 gigabits. So, we have invested and we will put in place all the means to improve the level of connection of the networks,” she added.
“We have a volume of tickets that is processed within the expected parameters, even below the expected parameters,” concluded Bially.
Nathalie Petitclerc, CEO of the CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec, took advantage of this update to assure that all of the centre’s activities had been maintained and that some medical employees in the field had already expressed their appreciation and a gain in efficiency.
Adélaïde De Melo, CEO of the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, also stated that the teams are calm and are taking ownership of the system.
“We are still in the process of getting to grips with the equipment, but I would say that, all in all, it’s going well,” she commented. “We are resolving the tickets we have, the vast majority of which are access issue tickets, so some can be resolved very quickly, sometimes in a few minutes, while others can be a little more complex, such as user profiles .”
Peticlerc and De Melo both stated that all patients who needed care were treated without incident and that even if some people with less urgent situations were referred to other professionals, no one was seriously harmed by the deployment of the DSN.
Problems, according to the FIQ
Louis-Alex Nadeau, Vice-President of Labour Relations for the FIQ – Union of Healthcare Professionals of Mauricie and Central Quebec – pointed out that problems remained with the implementation of the rollout. As he had the previous day, he highlighted the difficulties encountered with medication administration.
“For example, for the medications that were dispensed at 8 a.m., we had a bag containing all the medications, which were all listed on the bag. Now, what has changed is that each medication has an individual bag,” he explained. “So, the nurses have to scan each medication.”
“They have to justify why they give it at 7:45 for each of the medications. So, if there are ten medications, the nurses have to justify all ten medications. It really takes longer,” he observed.
Nadeau explained that a meeting would take place Monday morning to discuss these issues and find more concrete solutions.
“The employer is very committed, very present and has been working hard for the past two days to resolve all these issues so that it makes the work of healthcare professionals easier,” he concluded.
Isabelle Roy, president of the FIQ – Syndicat des professionnelles en soins du Nord-de-l’Île de Montréal, observed an improvement and a lull compared to Saturday.
However, she also reported numerous problems that have existed since the implementation of the DSN.
“There are still problems with employees who are unable to log into the system, issues with scanning medications, the system does not take half doses into account, and this is still not regulated, which could lead to problems and errors in the administration of medications,” she noted.
However, she was keen to commend the work of the healthcare professionals on duty over the weekend: the deployment highlighted their high level of professionalism and dedication. There was a palpable sense of solidarity and mutual support.
Getting ready for Monday
The various stakeholders present at the Santé Québec briefing all assured that the teams were working hard to prepare for the coming week.
“Tomorrow will be another test,” said De Melo. “We will be monitoring it more closely, but we are confident that it will go well.”
Indeed, starting Monday, new services, such as the opening of outpatient clinics, will come into play, and the CIUSSS and Santé Québec expect an increase in activity.
Bially assured that the numerous teams on the ground are preparing for a likely increase in the number of tickets.
“We may have increases in activity, increases in users, and clinicians and professionals who will start working in several interrelationships. So, we assume an anticipated increase in tickets,” she suggested.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
