Photo credit: IHPME Twitter Feed (@ihpmeuoft)

We are proud to announce that one of VHA’s bright, young student placements was awarded first place at U of T IHPME’s Practicum Showcase: An Ignite Event on November 8. Syed Rayyan Qadri (who goes by Rayyan) was one of seven finalists invited to present at the event and he received top honours through a live voting process.

Rayyan, from the Master of Health Informatics program at the U of T Institute of Health, Policy Management and Evaluation (IHPME), brought his expertise to VHA in May of 2017. During his practicum placement, he helped members of our nursing team move from paper-based documentation to electronic medical records (EMR), which increase efficiency, accountability, transparency and safety for our clients, while reducing errors and long-term costs.

At the Practicum Showcase competition, Rayyan had to explain the EMRI project and his role in a five-minute presentation using 20 presentation slides. “Working with the Electronic Medical Records Initiative (EMRI) team, nursing supervisors, the technology developers Pixalere, and the IT department…we designed and developed an EMR system to be used on a laptop device for home care nurses,” says Rayyan. Collaboratively, the team identified form requirements and created digital mock-ups for the EMR. This approach ensured that “the Pixalere developers in Vancouver knew exactly what they had to build, and the nursing supervisors got to see exactly what the forms would look like,” notes Rayyan.

After the initial development stage, Rayyan took on the role of creating a device guide and leading training sessions for child and family nursing staff, which he adds was “a great learning and teaching experience.” They also used the same approach to begin customizing Rehab Occupational Therapy EMR forms.

This mentorship opportunity at VHA has “ignited a sense of direction” in Rayyan. He’s committed to supporting the ongoing challenge of standardizing home care services in Ontario. He believes that “It’s not about implementing the most advanced technology. It’s actually all about the people. It’s about understanding their needs and building strong professional relationships and partnerships with them. Once we have that set, the [right] technology and processes will fall into place.”

Rayyan’s hard work and representation of our organization in the community are certainly deserving of recognition. Technology continues to transform healthcare and at VHA we’re committed to leveraging it to deliver superior patient care. We look forward to building relationships with community partners—through practicum placements like Rayyan’s—as we all work towards a stronger and more sustainable health care system.