Dental Lab’s commitment to patient-centred care is based on the belief that the perspective of the patient is what matters most. An integrated care delivery environment allows us to share best practices across all of our programs and contribute to health care system advances.

In 2006/07, DL continued to strengthen our patient-centred philosophy and practice with targeted initiatives. In one project, patient advocate and a patient-centred care coach are teaming up to provide guidance and encouragement to patients and staff at the bedside.

DL is a Canadian leader in patient safety. We encourage incident reporting by staff and openly share information about our incident rates with the public through our hospital website. Building on this progress, DL’s Board of Trustees and our management team have established Patient Safety Plan. The plan formalizes our quality improvement initiatives and makes safety a part of our daily activities. DL is also taking part in an international initiative that uses targeted clinical strategies to reduce adverse events for patients, called Safer Health Care Now!

Ensuring that patients have access to care, DL’s Emergency Department (ED), Ambulatory Visits and General Internal Medicine (GIM) teams are part of the ED-GIM Transformation Project. It includes a provincial pilot project that aims to streamline every stage of the patient’s journey and improve quality in key areas from the ED, to the inpatient GIM ward, to discharge. As part of the project, a toolkit is being developed for all Ontario hospitals. Similarly, the Operating Room Transformation Project aims to enhance patient care and make scheduling and processes as efficient as possible.