Page 7 - GBGH Foundation Newsletter - Winter 2021

DOC TALK:

DR. DAVID

BAYFIELD

Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO),
Dr. Bayfield, offers insight on the move to a
digital healthcare environment at GBGH.

Please tell us 2-3 sentences about you as a physician! How is an electronic medical record going to improve
I have been an Emergency Department physician the health and lives of patients in our community?
at Georgian Bay General Hospital for more than 20 Meditech Expanse will allow us to eliminate countless
years. I have had the privilege to serve as the Chief paper-based systems and processes, and improve the
of Emergency Medicine and Medical Director for the efficiency and accuracy of the care we provide. This
Emergency Physician Group. But, for the past 2 years, will reduce the number of errors that we make when
I have been working in an exciting new role as our transcribing orders, and allow us to monitor the care
hospital’s first Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) that we are providing in real time to make sure we are
with the CARE4 project. delivering the best, evidence-based care all the time.

What is CARE4, and what does a Chief Medical
As a web-based platform, patients will have one
Information Officer do?
chart, accessible within all four partner hospitals,
CARE4 is a multi-million dollar investment in the
improving communication and promoting efficient use
enhancement of our electronic health record
of lab testing and diagnostic imaging. Unnecessary,
(EHR), and a partnership between four hospitals
repetitive testing will be a thing of the past among the
including Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
four partner hospitals.
(RVH), Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC) and
Collingwood General & Marine Hospital (CGMH).
I believe that Expanse has the potential to significantly
improve the care we deliver at GBGH in multiple ways
As a CMIO, I essentially act as a bridge between the
and hopefully, simultaneously, improve the day-to-day
clinical services and the IT department within our
workflows of clinical staff. My personal goal as CMIO
organization. In the context of implementing a new
is to do everything I can to make sure the new system
EHR like Expanse, my role involves leadership in the
delivers on these ambitious promises.
design, build, and implementation of the new system.
Purchasing the Expanse software is like buying the How can the community support this exciting change
blueprints for a house, which is not the same as for GBGH?
getting a fully built house – there is still a tremendous This is a significant investment for GBGH, and we need
amount of work to do putting it together so that nearly $1-million in devices and technology to support
it works properly at your particular site. To do this, the new systems. We are looking to our community
our physicians have been working hard to develop to help with the purchase of bedside scanners, label
hundreds of clinical order sets and develop efficient, printers, portable workstations, tablets and dictation
standardized documentation templates to facilitate microphones, to name a few.
patient care. My job also involves overseeing physician
training and making sure that all physicians are ready
To learn more about the CARE4 project, and Meditech
for success when we Go Live in 2021.
Expanse, visit GBGHF.ca/CARE4 or contact the Foundation

office (foundation@gbgh.on.ca, 705-526-4483).

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