November 29, 2007

The Board of Directors of Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation (AHSC) held its regular monthly meeting November 26, 2007 at the Saint John Regional Hospital. The following are highlights of that meeting:

Welcome

Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation Chairperson Paschal Chisholm welcomed more than 50 nursing students from New Brunswick Community College. The group joined the meeting to observe the Board at work as part of a course requirement.

Clinical Information System presentation

AHSC Chief Information Officer Derrick Jardine gave an update on the new Clinical Information System that Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation is committed to implementing in the region. “More than 80 clinicians have been involved in the design process,” Jardine said. “We want to ensure that this system manages patient demographics and patient information to benefit both the patients and clinicians.” Daryl Steeves and Dr. Gary Costain joined in the presentation and further explained how this information system will enhance the care patients receive. Paschal Chisholm thanked the presenters for their commitment to this important project. “I am always impressed with the high quality of people who work in this organization,” he said.

Report of the CEO

During her report, AHSC CEO Dora Nicinski advised Board members that AHSC e-learning programs are shared at no cost with other New Brunswick Regional Health Authorities. Representatives from RHA4 visited in October to discuss adopting AHSC e-learning programs in that region. Currently some e-learning programs are also shared with RHA1SE and RHA7.

AHSC’s Diabetes Education Program is tracking blood test results (AICs) for patients attending classes and also registered in the on-line Diabetes Management E-learning Program to compare results with patients attending classes in-house only. A total of 94 patients are now registered in the on-line Diabetes Management E-learning Program.

AHSC’s Nutrition and Food Services uses the provincial Patient Satisfaction surveys throughout the region. For the month of October, 2007 Saint John Regional Hospital had a patient satisfaction rate of 91%; St. Joseph’s Hospital 100%; Charlotte County Hospital 100%; Sussex Health Centre 87%; Grand Manan Hospital 100% and Centracare 97%.

Public Question Period

During this time suggestions were received by the Board Chairperson for improving communications with the public to encourage attendance at monthly meetings of the Board of Directors

Finance Committee

	7 Months ended October 2007	7 Months ended October 2006
Shareable Surplus (Deficit)	($3.042) M	($2.016) M
Medicare Deficit	($0.586 M)	($0.533 M)
Non-shareable Surplus (Deficit)	$0.078 M	$0.032 M
Board Surplus	($4.652) M	$0.863 M
Amortization of Assets	($0.586 M)	($0.804 M)
Total Surplus (Deficit)	($8.788) M	($2.458 M)

The Board of Directors passed the following on the recommendations of the Finance Committee:

• That a three year contract option be awarded to Lexmark with an estimated value of $1,463,904.22 for new printers and copiers and $810,000 for cost per page changes over the three-year option period. The total estimated contract value for all equipment and supplies to be provided under the recommended three-year contract option period award is $2,273,904.22.
• That a contract be awarded to IBM Canada Ltd., totaling $582,590.00 for the supply of storage area network (SAN) solutions as specified in AHSC’s RFP no. 07-012, dated July 18,2007 and supplier’s proposals dated August 22, 2007.
• That a contract be awarded to Fresenius Medical Care, totaling $903,967.68 for the supply of hemodialysis dialysers as specified in AHSC’s RFP No. 07-011, dated July 23, 2007 and the supplier’s proposals dated August 8, 2007.

Medical Advisory Committee

In the report of the Medical Advisory Committee Board members were updated on the Surgical Pre-assessment Tool. This form is being completed by surgeons and their patients prior to surgery as a pilot project. The objective is to decrease the number of patients required to come in to hospital for pre-surgical screening.

Professional Advisory Committee

Cheryl Swan, AHSC’s Administrative Director for General Surgery gave an update to the Professional Advisory Committee regarding Single Use and Reuseable Medical Devices. She advised members that it has been determined at the provincial level that New Brunswick Regional Health Authorities will not re-use critical or semi-critical single use medical devices. She also reported that Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation already practices this policy.

Other

Board members were provided with AHSC’s revised Smoke-free Property Policy, which states that smoking will be prohibited in or on AHSC owned, funded or operated premises with the following exceptions:

• Subject to ongoing review, smoking will be permitted for residents within designated areas in long-term residences including Ridgewood Veterans Wing, Lone water Farm and Centracare.
• Ceremonial use (e.g., sweet grass) in a defined location or clinical use (e.g. clinical trials) will be permitted, of approved by AHSC senior management and/or Ethics Services.
• In rare circumstances, if a patient is receiving end-of-life care or acute psychiatric care and nicotine replacement therapy or smoking off the property is not appropriate, he or she may be permitted to smoke on AHSC property in an outdoor designated area with approval of the patient’s health care team.
• A designated area at the rear of the Saint John Regional Hospital is available for staff that require a place to smoke during the work day.
• A designated area is available in the Public Parking Lot at the Saint John Regional Hospital for the general public.

Contact: Patricia Crowdis
Director of Communications and Media Relations
648-6116

Copyright © 2007 Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation. All rights reserved.