BC Children's Hospital is currently the only pediatric centre in Canada with platinum designation.
Members of the BC Children's Hospital Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) team received their award from the President of Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) at the 33rd annual ELSO conference in Boston, USA earlier this month.
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ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support recognizes health care centres that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to evidence-based processes and quality measures, staff training and continuing education, patient satisfaction and ongoing clinical care.
“ECLS truly exemplifies interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration between so many departments and I am so very proud of this achievement for our ECLS program and the entire ECLS team here at BC Children's," says Dr. Linda Edwards, pediatric critical care physician and medical director of the BC Children's Extracorporeal Life Support Program since 2017.
The ECLS program at BC Children's Hospital manages the care of infants, children and youth who are experiencing multi-system failure. The program and team use advanced and invasive life support equipment when conventional medical therapy is unsuccessful in stabilizing patients. The multidisciplinary team includes staff from the intensive care unit including nursing and respiratory therapy, cardiothoracic and general surgery, cardiology, anaesthesiology, perfusion, respiratory medicine, neonatology, transfusion medicine and other laboratory services.
The team's commitment to excellence and improvement has allowed the program to excel in patient outcomes, research, innovation, and education – all contributing factors that helped BC Children's Hospital secure the ELSO Award for Excellence and a platinum level designation.
“This has been a journey of transformation and innovation," says Renee Mintak, team leader/ECLS program coordinator at BC Children's Hospital. “Fostering growth with a priority to multidisciplinary collaboration and building a highly functional program that is supported by exceptional team members."
"Congratulations to the entire team on this outstanding recognition," says Trish Page, executive director, clinical operations, BC Children's Hospital. “It's truly an accomplishment that reflects the dedication to providing patient and family-centered care that we continuously strive to achieve."
ELSO is an international non-profit association of health care centres and individuals who are dedicated to the development, evaluation and improvement of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and other innovative therapies for support of failing organ systems in the neonate, child and adult.
