Large teaching community hospital, Grand River Hospital is proud to be the first teaching community hospital in Canada to partner with Signal 1 to explore a clinical decision support system powered by artificial intelligence. The system builds on algorithms initially developed - and currently in use - at St. Michael’s Hospital, a site of Unity Health Toronto. The solution is designed to support clinician judgment by predicting changes in patient needs and conditions to enable early interventions.
Signal 1’s solution analyzes existing patient data and uses AI to predict changes in patients’ care. Based on these predictions, the solution identifies patients who are improving and may be nearing discharge and patients who are at-risk of deteriorating and may require additional, or a higher level of care. These predictions are communicated to care teams through daily reports that have been developed with clinicians.
“This doesn’t replace the work and expertise of multi-disciplinary care teams and in fact, it was developed in partnership with our clinical teams,” explains Bonnie Camm, Executive Vice President of Clinical Services at Grand River Hospital. “We will be able to peer into the data 48 hours before the human eye can to make recommendations that will enable patients to be supported on the right path sooner, including initiating discharge planning support to get patients home to their families, where they want to be. It will also potentially help us to free up beds sooner, to help with capacity pressures.”
“Innovation and research is a strategic priority at Grand River Hospital,” says Carla Girolametto, Director of Innovation and Research. “We are committed to tirelessly pursuing new ways to provide care, and lead in the adoption of new technologies in the health sector. We are also very excited to pave the way for innovation in health care to benefit patients here at our hospital and beyond.”
The tool will also support smart resourcing, allowing teams to assign specialized teams and senior clinicians to patients identified to have increased or more complex needs, and flexing additional staff to support the recovery of those with less acute care needs.
Signal 1 CEO Tomi Poutanen says now is the time for hospitals to adopt solutions like Signal 1’s. “Hospitals have spent years investing in digitization which was then accelerated by COVID-19 they already have all of the data they need for us to deliver real-time patient insights to their clinical teams. It’s a matter of being open to embedding machine-based predictions into workflows. With Grand River Hospital, we have a forward thinking partner that has a track-record for innovation and a desire to bring novel solutions to the health care industry.”
“What the health care industry needs right now is significant innovation and change,” says GRH president and CEO Ron Gagnon. “Health care is a challenging environment and I think we need to think and do things differently to solve these big problems. We are well positioned in an area of Canada that is known for its innovative mindset and projects like these underscore our commitment to leveraging innovation and technology within the health sector. We believe that this work will lead to enhanced care and better patient outcomes.”
This work is being funded by the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network, a federally funded organization that works with Canadian health-care providers to identify their biggest challenges and match them with Canadian-made technology solutions. Through projects like this one launched by Grand River Hospital, companies like Signal 1 get access to real-world environments, work closely with clinicians to validate their solutions, and benefit from the Network’s unique procurement process.
“We are proud to be supporting this important collaboration,” says Dr. Dante Morra, Chair, CAN Health Network. “Signal 1 is an incredible Canadian company that has the ability to support and transform hospitals using AI. We look forward to this important project with Grand River Hospital.”
For more information, please contact:
Cheryl Evans, Manager, Communications and Engagement
Grand River Hospital - Cell: 226-749-0689 - cheryl.evans@grhosp.on.ca
Pete Cronin, Vice President - Business Operations
Signal 1 - Cell: 416-219-8384 - pete@signal1.ai
Natasha Zelinski, Communications Advisor
CAN Health Network - Natasha.zelinski@thp.ca
Grand River Hospital is one of Ontario’s largest community hospitals with an outstanding team of 5,000 dedicated health care workers and volunteers. We provide services and support to more than 840,000 residents at our two campuses and satellite locations in Waterloo Region and Guelph Wellington. We take pride in the ways we collaborate with our health system partners, our region’s academic and innovation communities, and diverse community stakeholders as we work toward providing a world class experience for patients, families and team members.
Twitter @GRHospitalKW | Youtube: griverhosp | Facebook and Linkedin: Grand River Hospital
Signal 1 is a health start-up that helps hospitals enhance patient care with an AI-powered clinical decision support system. Signal 1’s system delivers real-time insights on changes in patients’ conditions and care needs, monitoring patients from the time of admission right through discharge. Signal 1 is committed to delivering responsibly deployed AI solutions that are designed with clinician feedback at every stage.
https://signal1.ai/ | Twitter: @Signal1_AI | Linkedin: Signal 1
The CAN Health Network is a Canada-first approach to technology adoption. It helps break down barriers to scaling in the health-care system and provides an environment for companies to scale to their full potential. Currently operating in Ontario, Western and Atlantic Canada, the CAN Health Network was recently awarded $30 million by the Government of Canada as part of Budget 2022 to expand into Quebec, the Territories and with Indigenous Communities.
https://canhealthnetwork.ca/ | Twitter: @CANHealthNtwrk | LinkedIn: CAN Health Network