Creating vital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Serving one of Canada’s hardest-hit regions through COVID-19 has truly required “all hands on deck.” Osler’s region has consistently experienced one of the highest test positivity rates in Ontario and we’ve cared for the highest number of COVID-19 patients of any hospital in the province.

We’ve had to respond, pivot, anticipate impending needs, and most fundamentally, continue to provide compassionate, high-quality care to all of our patients – many of whom were struggling with the effects of COVID-19.

Throughout this journey, we’ve been guided by our Vision of patient-inspired health care without boundaries. And along the way we’ve learned, innovated, and grown. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how our teams have embraced innovation and created new capacity so we could continue to provide safe, high-quality patient care during this unprecedented time.

Re-imagining our physical spaces to meet patient needs

When a patient is admitted to Osler, our priority is ensuring the most appropriate bed as quickly as possible. But with a finite number of beds and an increase in critically ill patients, it quickly became apparent we needed to rethink our existing spaces.

We quickly got to work to problem-solve how we could safely accommodate more patients. Equipment was purchased and borrowed, and rooms were reconfigured to maximize capacity while ensuring continued patient safety and comfort. Some areas not traditionally used to deliver care were reconfigured as patient rooms, while others were transformed to better meet patient needs.

Last fall, we were pleased when the provincial government announced additional funding for 87 new beds at Osler. This investment is enabling us to create greater capacity to meet the needs of our community through this pandemic, and our teams have worked diligently to adapt spaces and bring new beds into operation.

Our strength is our people

Of course, hospital rooms are nothing without compassionate and capable staff to care for the patients within them. As demand for care in our Intensive Care Units, COVID-19 units and Emergency Departments (EDs) has grown, so has the need to redeploy staff to areas of greatest need within our organization.

Our highly-skilled team is up to the task. As COVID-19 forced us to postpone non-urgent surgeries and reduce some services, nursing staff were trained to provide care in other units. Staff from across Osler were redeployed to where they were needed most, including our COVID-19 Testing Centres and Vaccine Clinic.

To date, more than 650 Osler staff have been redeployed – and we are grateful for their willingness to step up to meet our community’s needs during this unprecedented time.

All staff and physicians across the organization have a role to play in supporting our pandemic response. It’s been an incredible team effort. We commend them for their extraordinary dedication.

It’s all about the flow: moving patients safely and efficiently

At any time, patient flow through a hospital is critical to ensuring people get the right care at the right time in the right place. During the pandemic, this need has become even more pronounced as more patients require specialized spaces like isolation rooms.

To facilitate the smooth transition of patients through our hospitals, staff from across Osler work together in our Operational Command Centres (OCCs). Located at both Etobicoke General Hospital and Brampton Civic Hospital, each OCC has a series of electronic dashboards that display the location of patients as they move from the ED to inpatient beds. Staff from across the organization work to ensure that rooms are ready and patients are transferred to the most appropriate units for their needs.

Collaborating with partners: a regional approach

Beyond our walls, Osler is a proud partner of the Greater Toronto Area Incident Management System (GTA IMS), a command table that includes hospital representatives from across the GTA. This table has developed a regional approach to supporting patient care, issuing directives that guide our collective response so that all hospitals are able to accommodate patients in need of acute care. Together, we are breaking down the silos between our organizations with the recognition that all Ontarians deserve access to appropriate care, regardless of where they live.

This regional approach has been critical in supporting Osler’s response. Given the volume of COVID-19 cases in Osler’s communities, in November, the GTA IMS directed us to begin transferring patients to other hospitals. We continue to do so regularly, freeing up capacity so we can continue to respond to our area’s urgent needs.

We’re ready for the future

So where do we go from here? Predictive modelling, which uses historical patient data to anticipate future trends and events, is a key component to helping us plan at Osler and has already proven invaluable to our COVID-19 response. For example, we’ve been able to accurately anticipate when patient admissions are expected to peak – critical information that directly drives our planning to ensure we have the space, people, equipment and personal protective equipment to care for the impending waves of patients.

While we don’t know what the future holds, we’ve learned a great deal from our COVID-19 journey.  Going forward, we will continue to use these innovations and lessons to optimize our resources, remain nimble, and continue our tradition of providing compassionate, high-quality care for our community.