Connect Care: Shaping the future of healthcare with data-driven research
Date: June 5, 2024 | Time: 12:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: Theatre One, Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Dr NW
On June 5, join us for an immersive event designed to empower researchers to shape the future of healthcare through the utilization of Connect Care data.
Connect Care is more than just a clinical information system—it’s a catalyst for change, offering researchers unprecedented access to comprehensive patient data that can drive meaningful improvements in healthcare outcomes and the patient experience. Through a series of dynamic sessions and interactive discussions, participants will discover how Connect Care empowers researchers to unlock the full potential of health information technology.
Hosted by the Cumming School of Medicine, O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Alberta Health Services, and the Centre for Health Informatics, this event will explore how researchers can leverage Connect Care to drive research ideas and inform evidence-based decision-making and innovation in healthcare delivery and research. Learn how Connect Care data can inform initiatives aimed at improving participant recruitment, patient outcomes, streamlining clinical workflows, and enhancing the overall quality of care.
From optimizing patient engagement to supporting clinical research to facilitating person-centred care, Connect Care is revolutionizing the way we deliver healthcare. This event will showcase real-world examples of how researchers are harnessing Connect Care data to drive positive change while inspiring participants to take advantage of this outstanding resource. Join us as we explore ways to harness the power of Connect Care data to spark innovation, improve outcomes, and enhance the patient experience.
Agenda
12:45 - 1:00 | Registration/Check-in
1:00 - 1:15 | Welcome remarks
1:15 - 2:00 | Introduction to AHS Connect Care and Health System Access* by Noopur Swadas and Wendy Pratch
2:00 - 2:45 | Leveraging Connect Care for clinical research: Exploring EPIC customizations* by Becky Wong
2:45 - 3:00 | Break
3:00 - 4:00 | Connect Care case studies*
Featuring Dr. Matt James, Dr. Stephen Freedman, Dr. Andrew McRae, and April Wales
4:00 - 4:45 | The role of the Centre for Health Informatics in the learning health system* by Tyler Williamson & Team
4:45 - 5:00 | Wrap up
*Learn more about the different sessions below
About the sessions
By Noopur Swadas and Wendy Pratch
This presentation will provide an overview of the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Connect Care Clinical Information System, exploring its objectives and role in clinical research. It will also outline the role of the Health System Access team and help you understand the process of obtaining administrative approval for provincial research to access AHS resources for clinical research.
Learning objectives:
- Gain a thorough understanding of the goals and functionality of the Connect Care Clinical Information System.
- Explore the importance of integrating research into the healthcare organization to enhance patient safety and study integrity
- Understand the role the AHS Health System Access team and administrative approval process to access AHS resources for clinical research.
By Becky Wong
This session aims to provide an overview of the various customizations, also known as “builds,” available in Connect Care to support clinical research.
Learning objectives:
- Understand the process for submitting research build requests and the necessary steps for approval and evaluation of builds in Connect Care.
- Gain insight into the cross-functional teams within AHS involved in the process.
This panel will feature presentations by researchers who will share how they use Connect Care in their work.
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Embedding pragmatic clinical trial tools within Connect Care
By Matt James
This presentation will describe how Connect Care is being leveraged to implement a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of an embedded intervention that includes clinical decision support and care pathways. This will be illustrated using a case example of a clinical trial designed to evaluate strategies to improve hospital-to-home transitions of care for people with acute kidney disease.
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Optimizing participant recruitment and order sets for pragmatic trials
By Stephen Freedman
This presentation will describe how to use best practice alerts to locate and recruit potentially eligible participants for research throughout the province. It will also demonstrate how order set builds can be used to facilitate embedding pathways into clinical care.
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Use of Best Practice Alerts (BPAs) to facilitate research recruitment and data collection
By Andrew McRae
This presentation will discuss the utility, barriers and facilitators for using Best Practice Alerts to enable research participant recruitment and data collection.
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Facilitating Person-Centered Care in Cancer Care Alberta using Connect Care
By April Wales
In fall of 2022, Cancer Care Alberta (CCA) went live on the Connect Care system which created an opportunity for the organization to transition from a paper-based collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to a digital process leveraging the new patient portal, MyAHS Connect. This presentation will review how electronic PROs, or ePROs, are collected across CCA and integrated into clinical processes and workflows to inform person-centered care for Albertans facing cancer.
By Tyler Williamson & team
The Centre for Health Informatics is a partnership between the Cumming School of Medicine, Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services. Through this partnership, CHI helps facilitate access to provincial health data assets while leading in cutting edge health data research. This session will describe the support available to University of Calgary researchers for their health data related research. It will also discuss some of the exciting work being done in CHI.
About the speakers
Noopur Swadas
Noopur Swadas is a registered nurse and advisor on the Health System Access team at Alberta Health Services.
Wendy Pratch
Wendy Pratch has been a Registered Nurse for over 20 years and is also completing her master’s in nursing at the University of Calgary.
Becky Wong
Becky is currently Director, Health System Access within the Health Evidence & Innovation department at Alberta Health Services.
Matt James
Dr. Matthew James is a clinician scientist with training in Nephrology and a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.
Stephen Freedman
Dr. Freedman is professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Calgary.
Andrew McRae
Dr. McRae is an emergency physician and cardiovascular epidemiologist undertaking observational and interventional studies in the Calgary Zone Emergency Departments.
April Wales
April brings 16 years of oncology nursing background to her work as a Senior Change Management Consultant with Cancer Care Alberta.
Tyler Williamson
Dr. Tyler Williamson is the Director of the Centre for Health Informatics and an Associate Professor of Biostatistics in the Cumming School of Medicine.
Centre for Health Informatics
The Centre for Health Informatics is the newest University of Calgary research and innovation centre within the Cumming School of Medicine.