Located in the heart of downtown Brampton, Osler’s Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness is a state-of-the-art outpatient health care facility focused on treatment of patients who do not require an overnight hospital stay. Peel Memorial provides the community with an extensive list of speciality and day clinics, as well as health services and programs like day surgery.
Peel Memorial’s Day Surgery program is helping provide even greater access to quality care to many patients across the community. Staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of surgeons, specialists and nurses, the program offers cataract surgery, knee scoping and cystoscopy procedures, gynaecology procedures, as well as other minor procedures in an outpatient/day surgery model. In addition to the benefit of a multi-disciplinary team, the model also boasts a comprehensive pre-assessment process by physicians and a thorough discharge process designed to ensure quick, seamless recovery —resulting in a far lower re-admission rate than inpatient surgery.
Ongoing advances in technology and less invasive surgical techniques mean fewer surgeries now require a hospital stay. Recognized as a best practice, more than 80 per cent of surgeries performed at Osler are now provided on an outpatient/day surgery basis with a focus on returning patients to the comfort of their home at the end of the day to recover.
Since Peel Memorial’s opening in February 2017, Osler increased the number of day surgery cases from 49,470 to 52,345 in one year. This increase resulted in a 16 per cent decrease in wait times for cataract procedures and a 17 percent decrease in knee arthroscopy procedures for 90 per cent of patients over the previous year.
As one of the province’s largest community hospitals, Osier recognized the potential for gathering rich research data and launched a formal research program five years ago.
Today, Osler is a research hub, contributing or leading more than 200 studies in partnership with numerous academic, government, and private sector and industry leaders. In fact, over the last two years Osler’s engagement in research initiatives has increased by 75 per cent.
From assessing the role environmental and genetic factors play in excess fat deposits in South Asian newborns to evaluating new therapies for cancer — Osler is involved in a variety of ground-breaking studies focused on chronic diseases, patient experience and access to care.
Osler has been working closely with the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University on the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds study. This landmark national research study is aimed at understanding the causes and development of chronic illnesses like heart disease, stroke, dementia and cancer. Osler is a key contributor to this 10,000-person study providing insights from hundreds of participants of South Asian descent. The study will help provide a better understanding of the impact ethnicity, lifestyle and environmental factors have on the function of the heart, brain and blood vessels.
Osler’s Brampton Civic Hospital site is leading a study with Peel and Halton Region paramedic services, examining the effectiveness of autoRlC — a non-invasive, portable device designed to limit myocardial damage on cardiac patients as they travel to the hospital. The study has collected almost 1,800 heart attack patient cases and looks to determine the impact on cardiovascular health, as well as readmissions to the hospital.
Clinical trials continue to be a priority at Osler. In fact, the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network (3CTN), a pan-Canadian not-for-profit organization working to enhance national clinical research capability and capacity, has partnered with Osler to support clinical trials and encourage participation.
Most of Osler’s researchers are also practicing clinicians, providing even more opportunity for the organization to use findings to inform and enhance the design of clinical programs, and advance overall quality and access to care for the community.
For more information, please visit www.williamoslerhs.ca/research.
