HHS appoints chief nursing information officer

HAMILTON, Ont. – Filomena (Fil) Canci (pictured), a 25-year Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) employee, was recently appointed to be the hospital’s first Chief Nursing Information Officer. Canci takes on the new role, becoming a key part of the much anticipated project to modernize HHS’ hospital information system (HIS).

Canci has spent most of her career in pediatrics and critical care, including almost a decade as a leader based at McMaster Children’s Hospital, facilitating change and enabling innovative ways of providing safer care.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to join this team to help create, develop and implement an HIS that will completely transform the way we provide care,” she says.

HHS’s new system will standardize clinical workflows and improve the patient experience by involving patients as active partners in their care. It will also enhance the work experience for all healthcare workers who will use modern technology to provide better, safer care.

Recently, the hospital announced it is proceeding with an expansion of Epic, a leading provider of health information technology which currently supports ambulatory care at HHS.

Canci’s role as chief nursing information officer (CNIO) involves deep collaboration and engagement with clinical teams throughout the project.

She will work with nursing and allied health teams at HHS to ensure this new technology enables safe clinical care and patient safety is embedded into every aspect of hospital workflows.

“I’ll liaise with nursing and interprofessional practice teams to embed evidence-based, transformative workflows that are standardized yet specific for all varied populations cared for across HHS,” she says. “This won’t be just about preparing for launch day, it will be about how we will keep optimizing this software to continually improve clinical care and the patient experience.”

An important element of the role is the partnership with her counterpart, Dr. Rob Lloyd, the chief medical information officer. Their collaboration will ensure clinical areas are ready for when the system goes live in 2022.

“Fil deeply values quality and has an intimate knowledge and understanding of what it is to deliver bedside care at HHS,” says Dr. Lloyd. “She brings a remarkable track record of implementing system-level changes that have led to some terrific improvements in care over the past few years.”

Lloyd adds that Canci’s passion and knowledge for patient safety will be valuable to the HIS project team. It’s that passion that drove her to apply for the role over the summer.

“It made me very excited about joining this once-in-a-lifetime project,” says Canci. “Along with the focus on patient safety, a new HIS will improve clinical care delivery and further enhance patient experience. This is about having the right tools to provide and receive the best possible care. By harmonizing workflows across HHS, we can provide patients with the safest, most innovative and comprehensive care.”

Along with Lloyd and the broad project team, Canci’s role as CNIO will help keep staff up to date on what’s happening with the project. In particular, she will meet with teams on a regular basis to identify what is needed to prepare for the big switch in less than two years.

Every leader, though, needs a solid team of experts supporting them, especially for a complex project of this size.

“We just finished the second wave of onboarding our new project team and I’m super impressed with the group,” says Canci. “Staff from across HHS have accepted the call to create this modern HIS that will truly transform clinical care across the entire organization. The excitement building on this team will propel us all to achieve great things.”