Clinical targets are relatively easy to set but can be extremely difficult to implement. It is important to have organisational targets, in addition to clinical targets. The National Service Framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease sets national standards, defines service models, and establishes performance indicators for clinicians to meet. The new National Health Service ethos, in which fro...

Growing interest in reducing costs for patients requiring long-term mechanical ventilation has led to development of different care delivery models. This article describes the development and implementation a respiratory care process model focusing on best practices and improvement in care, including early mobility. To implement the care process model, the authors had to make significant change...

There is a paucity of information about the nation's local governmental public health agency (LPHA) workforce. Without additional research, crucial questions about the individuals providing front-line public health services remain unanswered. Current national efforts to develop a public health workforce research agenda must include strategies for collecting basic data on local governmental publ...

Saskatchewan has embarked on a journey to transform the quality of its healthcare. Through our experiences, we have learned many lessons that could be useful to the development of a pan-Canadian system of measurement aimed at bettering care. However, measurement in isolation is insufficient to achieve improved healthcare. The system needs to be linked to a common improvement agenda. Creating a ...

This paper describes the implementation of a decision support system that helps non-technical front-line reception staff handle complex enquiries on a wide range of local government regulations. The paper describes the knowledge ngineering and the knowledge level modelling undertaken for the prdject. The paper describes the design, implementation and architecture of the resulting distributed sy...

Standardized, preprinted or computer-generated physician orders are an attractive project for organizations that wish to improve the quality of patient care. The successful development and maintenance of order sets is a major undertaking. This article recounts the collaborative experience of the Grey Bruce Health Network in adapting and implementing an existing set of physician orders for use i...