In Canada, BD has received orders for 75 million injection devices (made up of 190 million needles and syringes) from the Canadian government to support COVID-19 vaccination response efforts.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we are pleased to be working with our health authorities at the federal and provincial/territorial levels to ensure our country is prepared,” said Greg Miziolek, president, BD-Canada. “This centralized procurement will help ensure that Canada has the capacity to administer two doses of a vaccine to all citizens when one becomes available.

For more information on the BD response plan on COVID-19 in Canada, visit: bd.com/en-ca/COVID19

When COVID-19 hit, hospitals and healthcare facilities rapidly shifted care delivery towards virtual care solutions. A global leader in geriatric care excellence and innovation in Canada has continued to provide their patients and residents with seamless access to clinicians using digital health solutions.  The provider’s Director of Innovation has deployed 30 telemedicine carts across the health system’s units equipped with iPads, Eko DUO ECG + Digital Stethoscope, Eko Telehealth subscription, and speakers. The Eko DUO offers the ability for clinicians to capture a single-lead ECG reading and listen to heart and lung sounds from anywhere in the world.  The carts have supported everything from virtual visits with specialists, connecting residents to hospital teams, as well as virtual visits with family during quarantine.  The Eko DUO enables clinicians to obtain a more comprehensive virtual exam than using video alone allowing for a continuum of care amidst a global pandemic.

Medtronic’s CareLinkTM remote monitoring software is a web-based program that collects data directly from a patient’s Medtronic insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system. It generates detailed reports that can be discussed during in-person or virtual visits with healthcare practitioners and is used to develop care plans.

Like many virtual tools in healthcare experiencing a surge in use since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, CareLink has been on the market for years. As diabetes clinics across Canada were forced to shut down in-person visits, however, the ability to effectively and efficiently embed virtual care in the patient pathway became a priority.

The province of Alberta was able to expedite adoption by reviewing the software for privacy and security compliance centrally, rather than every hospital having to do this separately. Now, Medtronic patients across the province have embraced virtual visits and are using CareLink to keep tabs on their diabetes.

Virtual visits have increased convenience for patients by decreasing travel time and costs (particularly for those who live outside of larger cities), as well as alleviating patient safety concerns about face-to-face visits during this time.

With a wife and seven children, Luc Lessard’s life is a juggling act and he is grateful for a peritoneal dialysis system he can use independently that helps make his day-to-day more manageable. Since the team at Niagara Health taught him and his wife Anne to use the AMIA Automated Peritoneal Dialysis System – a device that guides patients through the process of doing their therapy, step-by-step using voice guidance and animations, while keeping them remotely connected with their healthcare providers through the SHARESOURCE remote patient management platform, the 52-year-old says he feels completely secure and supported.

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The OneTouch Reveal® digital solution provides healthcare professionals the ability to remotely monitor their patients with diabetes. Since March 2020, the number of new clinics integrating the OneTouch Reveal® web app with their clinical practice increased by 16%. Meanwhile, new patients who introduced the OneTouch Reveal® mobile app to their diabetes self-management regime surged by nearly 30%.

By connecting their blood glucose meter to the OneTouch Reveal® mobile app, patients can share their progress with their care team in real-time. This enables remote monitoring and care between office visits, particularly in medical offices where in-person visits are sometimes not possible with COVID-19 restrictions.

A 2018 study, conducted by LMC Healthcare with high-risk patients with diabetes, concluded that the OneTouch Reveal® digital solution was an effective tool for promoting behaviour change modification and teaching self-care behaviours. With current studies demonstrating the clinical benefits of the OneTouch Reveal® apps, adoption of remote monitoring for patients with diabetes have become more mainstream in medical offices and pharmacies.

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For over 60 years, warfarin has been the treatment of choice in the prevention of stroke and other thromboembolic events. In recent years, a new class of Novel Oral Anticoagulant (NOAC) medication has become available, leaving clinicians and health system payors to question whether warfarin continues to have a place in therapy. 

According to the Pharmacy Association Of Nova Scotia (PANS), it may not be the medication that should be in question but instead the systems in place to manage anticoagulation for the patients who need it.  

Usual Care (UC) for warfarin management has traditionally required multiple healthcare visits, blood collection visits, and laboratory analysis of International Normalized Ratio (INR) with results to then later be relayed to the patient along with dosage adjustments.

Community Pharmacist-led Anticoagulation Management Service (CPAMS) is a new model of care in which patients receive a point-of-care INR test along with a pharmacist assessment at a pharmacy and results within minutes.

Pharmacists then prescribe dosage adjustments immediately, counsel patients, and provide supporting adherence tools such as a colourful picture-based dosing calendar, created by the decision support tool, INR Online.

INR Online is a web-based warfarin management tool that supports warfarin administration through a computerized dosing algorithm. Based on test results, INR Online calculates the dose of warfarin and the optimal date of the next INR test.

The Nova Scotia CPAMS Demonstration Project shows that this model will result in efficiencies for healthcare providers and optimal anticoagulation with improved time in therapeutic range outcomes for patients. In addition, the CPAMS Costing Study finds the model to be cost-effective for health systems when compared to UC for warfarin as well as NOAC patients.

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Containment measures related to COVID-19 as well as prioritization of healthcare resources to help fight this pandemic and provide care for hospitalized infected patients has led healthcare providers to cancel or delay necessary surgeries and other procedures, including screening, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. 

Clinical decision support systems can integrate patient data and findings from imaging, pathology, lab and genomic testing to facilitate diagnostic and treatment decisions. One of them is the NAVIFY™ Tumor Board from Roche Diagnostics.

The NAVIFY™ Tumor Board solution is a cloud-based workflow solution that securely integrates and displays relevant aggregated data into a single, holistic patient dashboard for oncology multidisciplinary care teams to review, align and decide rapidly on the optimal treatment for the patient.

Over 15 countries have successfully implemented it at multiple hospitals worldwide, including the University of Missouri School of Medicine (MU School of Medicine) and the Hospital del Mar in Spain. NAVIFY™ Tumor Board is currently in the testing phase at two Canadian hospitals.

Findings from a recent study indicate that a digital tumor board solution could have a significant impact on the amount of time spent preparing for multidisciplinary team meetings. They also demonstrated a reduction in preparation time variability. Digital tools ensure availability of all required data, increase efficiency of therapy decision-making, and lead to higher throughput of cases resulting in shorter time-to-treatment.

Considering the current backlog in cancer patients awaiting surgeries, minimizing upfront work lets teams focus on individualized treatment decisions, reviewing, determining, and better managing care.

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Health care professionals (HCPs) on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic account for up to 20% of those infected, and over 1000 worldwide have lost their lives.  Although the stethoscope is an essential tool to diagnose and monitor patients, it brings HCPs within 28 inches of patients, putting them at serious risk of infection, even when using of personal protective equipment (PPE).

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, AusculSciences developed the Auscul-X, a multi-sensor, remote, disposable stethoscope which allows clinicians to monitor patients heart and lung sounds from outside the patient’s room with acoustic fidelity equivalent to an electronic stethoscope.  Six wearable, disposable sensors capture the complete heart and lungs sounds which are wirelessly transmitted to an HCP’s smart phone, tablet, or PC workstation where they can listen to and view visual graphical representation of these sounds.  Data captured by Auscul-X can be shared with authorized HCPs for purposes of remote telemedicine assessment and will be enabled with AI capabilities for longitudinal patient tracking.

Auscul-X is expected to reduce the number of times that doctors and nurses must don PPE, reducing personnel risk and PPE costs, while increasing the standard of care by enabling more frequent heart and lung sound examination.  Auscul-X will also prove beneficial to Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities, as it can allow remote doctors to regularly auscultate residents’ hearts and lungs.

Auscul-X is currently being evaluated by both the Canadian Forces and by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute for use in their critical care unit.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for strong collaboration and clear communication among healthcare providers, particularly when it comes to vulnerable older adults. A unique partnership is creating a digital link between hospital and long-term care (LTC) homes to ensure clear, accurate information flows quickly and easily between the two healthcare providers when transferring patients, to reduce the potential for delays or errors in care. The intent is to improve health outcomes for older adults transferred between hospital and long-term care.

For hospital patients going to a LTC home, this means their hospital team will be able to send medical information to their LTC team – directly from the hospital system to the LTC home. The same will be true in reverse for residents of a LTC home going into hospital. 

This fast, bi-directional exchange of medical information will bring many benefits, in terms of speed and accuracy of information, which is important now more than ever as we are faced with the challenges of a pandemic.  COVID-19 has struck many residents of Ontario’s long-term care homes, prompting partnerships with hospitals to provide assistance and making the direct and rapid exchange of information between hospitals and LTC homes even more important to enable patient-centred care. While this initial project will focus on local Hamilton healthcare providers, the intent is to develop a successful digital tool to support hospital/LTC transitions across the province to improve the health outcomes of LTC residents.

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To counter COVID-19, Bodycad was able to deliver more than 250,000 face shields to various Quebec hospitals.

It is through the restructuring of production, the support of the community, the participation of several partners (Voxel Factory, Panthera Dental and more), and employees dedicated to the cause that the company greatly surpassed its initial production goal. Bodycad has already completed an order for face shields for the CHU de Québec.

Being a medical company with 3D printing machine it made sense to pivot our production to be able to help our community. The company also partnered with Shapeshift3D to manufacture the first custom mask (BeyondFit tm). https://www.shapeshift3d.com/beyond-fit-mask?lang=fr.

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