Union urges delay as Nova Scotia Health pushes digital rollout forward

The Nova Scotia General Employees Union is raising concerns with the province’s digital health-record plan.

The union representing thousands of health-care workers in Nova Scotia is calling for a delay in the rollout of a new digital health-records system.

The province’s health authority and the minister of Health and Wellness say they hear the union’s concerns but say the rollout for the central health zone will go ahead as planned next week.

Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia General Employees Union (NSGEU), says its members aren’t ready for the next phase and rollout of the “One Person One Record” digital health-care system.

“Our members are concerned that the training they’ve received is not adequate to deliver patient care, and our members are hoping for a delay,” said Mullen.

NSGEU represents more than 13,000 health care workers in the central zone and although they believe the digital-records system is the right way to go, it’s timing of the rollout.

A survey of 300 NSGEU employees at the IWK went out last month and found that most respondents reported high stress with the rollout, with many citing a lack of training, while others shared concerns around patient safety.

Mullen didn’t provide any specific examples of patient safety concerns but says the risk is high if mistakes are made in high-acuity areas like emergency and surgical care.

“The stress that they see that was imposed on their coworkers and colleagues at the IWK is high, said Mullen “They’re working in already stressful environments.”

One Person One Record was first rolled out at the IWK in December. Staff said there were some lessons learned but stress they are ready to go live on May 9 in the Central Zone.

And while it’s a major shift away from the paper system, the health authority says 24/7 supports for staff will be there as the digital system goes live.

“Patient safety is our number one priority,” said Tanya Nixon, VP of operations with One Person One Record. “When we go live with something very new and different in the health-care system, there are a lot of supports around them and those staff will be supported to utilize those.”

The union has written a letter to premier Tim Houston asking for him to step in and delay the rollout but the minister of Health and Wellness and Nova Scotia Health says they will be proceeding with the rollout.

“We’ll spend some intense weeks in the Central zone for what we call hyper phase, supporting those users to ensure that they’re comfortable and, practicing good adoption practices with the clinical information system,” said Nixon.

Nova Scotia Health calls the One Person One Rollout (OPOR) a major transformation and says there will be obstacles along the way, but it will ultimately improve the health-care system and digitize it.

Nixon points out that mistakes get made in a paper-based system and ultimately the move to OPOR aligns with how most others heath-care systems across the country are operating.

“People can’t read people’s handwriting, pieces of paper get messed, fax machines get jammed,” said Nixon. “An electronic system makes all of those safety issues go away.”

One person One record is expected to be fully in place across all provincial health zones by the end of the year.

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