Digital Health News

In collaboration with the Ontario eConsult Centre of Excellence, the eHealth Centre of Excellence is leveraging the Ocean eReferral Network as part of an eConsult/eReferral Proof of Concept (POC). This POC will work to understand how integrating technologies can support clinical workflows, increase efficiencies, enhance patient care, and improve both provider and patient experience.

Currently, there are 10 specialists in the fields of Cardiology, Endocrinology, Neurology, Orthopedic Surgery, Paediatric Psychiatry, Sports Medicine, and Urology participating in the POC. Within their Ocean eReferral form, there is language indicating that they may respond back to the referral request with an eConsult if clinically appropriate.

Click the image above to view a demo of the POC workflow.

We’re excited to share that this past month, the POC had its first end-to-end eConsult completed through Ocean eReferral (with the previous 9 eConsults proceeding as an eReferral).

Currently, primary care providers can send an eConsult directly to specialists through the OTN Hub. eConsults have been shown to reduce the number of unnecessary referrals, with one primary care provider noting that 8 out of 10 eConsults she conducted to date avoided referrals to specialists.

This timely access to experience-based specialist knowledge means patients do not have to wait to be seen in-person by a specialist, enabling them to stay home and reducing their risk of exposure to COVID-19.

Our digital health tools also hit some big milestones! Read more below:

The OTN eConsult platform underwent a big upgrade in November, enabling clinicians to access their local specialty groups more efficiently.

All Community Health Centres (CHCs) in Waterloo Wellington are now using tablets!

We made some great new updates for two of our EMR tools: the palliative care toolkit and our lower back pain tool.

We're looking forward to seeing what 2020 will bring! One thing is for sure: the future of healthcare is here.

In order to use this functionality, you will be prompted to set your priority groups. This is a one-time setting. Selecting this priority feature will ensure that all eConsults will go to local specialists followed by your next priority selection.

For example:

For more information, please email Wendy Lang.

eConsult is a secure email messaging system that uses the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) to connect primary care providers with specialists, giving them timely access to experience-based specialist knowledge. The team here at the eHealth Centre of Excellence is providing support to both primary care providers and specialists looking to adopt eConsult into their practice workflow.

Through eConsult, primary care providers can reach out to specialists such as Dr. Catherine Alderdice, who specializes in Rheumatology and Osteoporosis.

Are you a family doctor or specialist interested in using eConsult in your practice? Connect with us today to get started!

eConsult is a secure email messaging system that uses the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) to connect primary care providers with specialists, giving them timely access to experience-based specialist knowledge. The team here at the eHealth Centre of Excellence is providing support to both primary care providers and specialists looking to adopt eConsult into their practice workflow.

Through eConsult, primary care providers can reach out to specialists such as Dr. Brian Lyttle, who specializes in Pediatric Respirology.

Dr. Lyttle is excited to join the eConsult service providing expertise in Pediatric Respirology for our area and beyond.

Are you a family doctor or specialist interested in using eConsult in your practice? Connect with us today to get started!

Across the province, the use of eConsult – the service that helps physicians and nurse practitioners get answers about their patients’ care quickly – is growing! The response from healthcare providers and patients is overwhelmingly positive.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada support eConsult as a standard of practice.

The Ontario eConsult Program was created to enable timely and equitable access to specialist advice for all patients in Ontario. Physicians and nurse practitioners receive a response within days, often eliminating the need for an in-person specialist visit. 

There are 81 specialty groups now available to answer your questions about your patients care and many local specialists are now available on the system.

If you are not yet on the system, please try it: you will find it easy, efficient and effective. If you are signed-up but not regularly using the service, please try it again.

For more information about how to make eConsult a regular part of your practice, or for a refresher please contact Wendy Lang wendy.lang@ehealthce.ca

We also offer MainPro credits!

Please click here to download the PDF.

QBIC (Quality Based Improvements in Care) is a program hosted by the eHealth Centre of Excellence (eCE) that works to provide primary care providers within Waterloo Wellington with support to incorporate telehealthcare services, such as eConsult, into their practice workflow.

Improved access to psychiatric care is now available in the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN) via eConsult. Using the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), primary care physicians and nurse practitioners can ask participating psychiatrists a question about current symptoms, medication issues or other treatment options and receive an answer in 3-5 days. With eConsult, many in-person visits can be avoided and patients will receive faster treatment without having to travel long distances to receive care.   Over 30 psychiatrists are now available on eConsult. In collaboration OTN and OntarioMD, the eHealth Centre of Excellence is actively recruiting psychiatrists in our region to join their colleagues in this exciting initiative.

The following psychiatrists from our LHIN are currently available to receive eConsults:

Dr. Susan Senior – General Adult Psychiatry

Specializes in general adult psychiatry but can also consult on those adolescents 16 years +

Special interests: collaborative care; workplace and mental health; mood and anxiety disorders; chronic disease management; sleep disorders; offering clinical management advice along with medication reviews/suggestions

“I value my role with helping the doctors in our area region as well as remote areas of the province where I have been fortunate to have been able to consult on the practitioners in northern communities.”

Dr. Senior is a Royal College Fellowship Trained Psychiatrist (2003) and McMaster Psychiatry Program Graduate.

Dr. David Sherman – Geriatric Psychiatry

“I am happy to eConsult on cases of patients over the age of 65 with mental health and cognitive concerns or patients younger than 65 with cognitive concerns.

I am recognized as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a board certified Geriatric Psychiatry Sub-Specialist in addition to being certified in Psychiatry.  I completed my Geriatric Psychiatry Sub-Specialty training and Psychiatry training at the University of British Columbia in 2016.   I am an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences at McMaster University. I graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto in 2010.  Prior to that I received my Masters of Science in Neuroscience and Neuroanatomy from Dalhousie University and Bachelors of Science, with Honours in Psychology from Acadia University.

I am currently practicing outpatient and community outreach Geriatric Psychiatry at the Guelph Family Health Team and Consultation Liaison Geriatric Psychiatry at the Freeport Site of Grand River Hospital in Kitchener.”

Dr Vivian Polak – Perinatal/Reproductive Psychiatry

Specializes in patients experiencing psychiatric symptoms in the following situations: during pregnancy or in first year following delivery (women and men); fertility difficulties; miscarriage, stillbirth, termination, or death of baby or young child; pre-pregnancy assessments (i.e., for advice on the safety of psychiatric medications during pregnancy/lactation). Psychiatric symptoms or diagnoses include mood disorders (unipolar depressive disorders or bipolar disorders), generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychotic disorders, comorbid substance use disorders, eating disorders, etc.

Also available on eConsult: Dr. Mohammad Saleem Dr. Sophiya Benjamin Dr. Dinesh Benjamin Dr. Natasha Snelgrove Dr. Anjali Sharma Dr. Alexandre Tavares Dr. Rasyidah Halim Dr. Shahzad Shahmalak Dr. Robyn Fallen

To view our other eConsult spotlights, please click here!

The QBIC (Quality Based Improvements in Care) team has enjoyed a busy and very exciting 2017!