Innovation @ KHSC
Kingston Health Sciences Centre’s (KHSC) strategic plan for Transforming care, together includes a clear commitment to innovation. At KHSC, innovation is a value and is a strategic direction it is taking to improve the health of communities in the southeast region.
In order to move closer to its vision of helping people achieve better health outcomes while transforming the local health care system, KHSC, working with Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences, has created an Innovation Portfolio of priority areas for future investment and work.
Following wide consultation and under the leadership of Innovation Lead Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer, priority innovation themes have been identified. The themes are aligned to the health needs of our population, are driven by areas of excellence at KHSC and its key partners, and will foster a culture of innovation.
Detailed background information on the process behind identifying priorities for innovation as well as more information on each of the themes can be found in the discussion document.
Several of these themes have been the focus of ongoing work and development, including the following initiatives:
Digital Health, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
This theme was further developed through a workshop held February 2020. Please see the workshop report and presentation slides.
21st Century Interventional Medicine – Minimally Invasive Approaches
A workshop on this theme, which explores how less invasive approaches to diagnosis and treatment will transform care in the next decades, was scheduled for March 30, 2020, but was cancelled because of COVID-19. It is expected the workshop will take place in future.
New Frontiers in Integrated Care – Elimination of Wait times for Specialty Access
A workshop exploring numerous innovations that have been shown to improve wait times for access to specialty consultation was planned for April 28, 2020, but was also cancelled as a result of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the KHSC and Queen’s leadership have determined that work on this theme should proceed, as long wait times already known to be a problem for some specialties need to be addressed. A number of working groups, including primary care, specialists and patients, have begun to make headway on this innovation initiative.
