Bridging the Gap: Quality Improvement & Implementation Science

Talk Title: Increasing the Environmental Sustainability of Canadian Operating Rooms: An Evidence Informed Guideline

Bio: Dr. Sarah Ward completed medical school and Orthopaedic residency at the University of Toronto. She is an arthroplasty surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital, with a focus on complex primary and revision hip and knee arthroplasty and trauma surgery. She is an Assistant Professor with academic appointments in the Department of Surgery as well as the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and she is an Associate Program Director for the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Ward has completed a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. She is the NSQIP Surgeon Champion as well as the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Lead for the Department of Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, where she also holds a Waddell Early Career Professorship in Orthopedic Surgery. Dr. Ward is the Vice Chair of Quality for the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. She also leads the Quality Improvement curriculum (for all first year surgical trainees) within the Surgical Foundations program at the University of Toronto. Dr. Ward is engaged with multiple projects related to healthcare sustainability and leads sustainability training for the surgical trainees at the University of Toronto.

Talk Title: Choosing Green: Conversation Aids for Integrating Environmental Awareness Into Inhaler Prescriptions

Bio: Dr. Stacey Butler is a CIHR-funded Postdoctoral Fellow at Unity Health Toronto. She is working with Dr. Samir Gupta and leading research projects centered around sustainability in respiratory medicine, with a primary focus on the environmental impacts of inhalers which are used to treat chronic lung diseases.

Talk Title: Improving Environmental Sustainability by Decreasing Inhalational Anesthetic Emissions in Pediatric Surgery – A Quality Improvement Study

Bio: Dr. Mandy Lam is a staff anesthesiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and part of the medical faculty at the University of Toronto since 2015. She completed her MD at the University of Western Ontario in 2008 and did her residency training at the University of Toronto, followed by fellowship at SickKids. She is actively involved in post-graduate education at the university and local site levels. Recently, she has been invested in sustainable environmental practices in the operating room and is currently leading projects to decommission central nitrous piping and decrease anesthetic emissions via promoting reduction of fresh gas flows.

Bio: Dr. Christine Soong is an academic hospitalist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine with a cross-appointment to the Division of Hospital Medicine, at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She completed her medical degree at Western University, family medicine residency at the University of Toronto, and a master’s degree in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. She has held leadership positions at Johns Hopkins and at the University of Toronto. Her current roles include the Medical Director of Quality and Safety at Sinai Health, the inaugural Division Head of Hospital Medicine at Sinai Health, Vice Chair of Quality and Innovation at the Department of Medicine, and Senior Editor for BMJ Quality and Safety. Dr. Soong’s research and quality improvement interests include patient safety, high-value care, novel models of inpatient care, and transitions of care.