Last November Humber River Hospital opened Canada’s first Hospital Command Centre with GE Healthcare Partners as it continues to strive to be a leader in healthcare innovation.

The Command Centre is a data-driven ‘mission control’ situated at the very heart of Humber River Hospital. The 4,500 square foot facility enables us to monitor and manage the flow of our patients at every stage of their care journey with us.

Think of it like air traffic control at an airport.

The time a patient in the Emergency Department waits for an inpatient bed has been reduced by 33%

What Impact Has the Command Centre had at Humber River Hospital?

Patient flow has already improved, despite an 8% increase in patient visits to the Emergency Department. Compared to last year:

• The wait time for having an inpatient bed cleaned has been reduced by 45%
• The time a patient in the Emergency Department waits for an inpatient bed has been reduced by 33%

Only a few months after the Command Centre opened, these improvements reflect the equivalent improvement in patient flow of opening 23 new beds.

Our Patients, Our People, Our Community

The Command Centre team includes decision makers from across Hospital departments. They monitor key data points from the same room, so that they can make decisions quickly.

For our patients, the Hospital Command Centre means timely access to care. That means less time waiting for beds to open up, shorter hospital stays, and speedier discharges.

For our physicians, nurses and other staff, the Command Centre means they can focus their attention and energy on delivering quality patient care and achieving the best possible healthcare outcomes, and spend less time coordinating patients’ movement.

For our community, the Command Centre means we will be able to serve the changing needs of a growing population and continue to deliver quality care.

How does it work?

The Command Centre team includes decision makers from across Hospital departments.

They monitor key data points, all from the same room, so that they can communicate efficiently and respond quickly to:

• Emergency Department volume
• Bed allocations and assignments
• Room cleaning
• Critical care capacity
• Surgical scheduling
• Discharge planning

While we’ve launched the Command Centre to help us improve patient flow and continue to deliver excellent patient care to Humber River Hospital’s community, this is just the beginning. Our vision is to build the most advanced hospital command centre in North America, and put ourselves at the leading edge of delivering high-quality reliable patient care inside and outside the hospital system:

Phase 1: Improving Access & Patient Flow – November 2017

For our community, the Command Centre means we will be able to serve the changing needs of a growing population and continue to deliver quality care.

• Established the Command Centre with a focus on improving and streamlining patient flow through the Hospital system from intake to discharge, creating “virtual” beds.

Phase 2: Improving Clinical Safety & Quality – 2018

• Expand Command Centre monitoring to include key clinical pathways and reduce preventable patient safety incidents that result in serious harm or death.
• Track patients’ progress through “care maps” tailored to their unique health needs and the specific care they require.

Phase 3: Community Reach & Home Monitoring – 2019

• Use wearable technologies and Internet-connected devices in the home to monitor and manage patients after their discharge to home recovery and reduce the likelihood of return hospital visits.
• Harness new technologies and patient data to support seamless teamwork between Command Centre staff, hospital professionals, and our community healthcare partners.
• Use Command Centre resources to identify post-discharge patients who need follow-up care or other timely healthcare intervention.