March 18, 2008

Dr. Avery Nathens has been named as Medical Director for CritiCall Ontario.  CritiCall is responsible for facilitating the efficient flow of patients requiring acute medical services across Ontario. This includes coordinating clinical consultations and patient transfers between hospitals.

As Medical Director, Dr. Nathens will work with hospitals and physicians from across the province to develop improved protocols for inter-facility medical consultation and patient transfer.  A priority task will be to work with the members of the Neurosurgical Expert Panel to ensure patients requiring neurosurgical care can get access to care as close to home as possible.

Dr. Nathens is currently the Division Head in General Surgery and Director of Trauma at St. Michael's Hospital, in Toronto. He has extensive experience evaluating trauma systems and patient care.

“Dr. Nathens' work in analyzing regional trauma systems has provided important insights into managing how patients move across Ontario's hospital network,” said Dr. Bernard Lawless, Provincial Lead, Critical Care and Trauma, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. “The results of this work will be used to improve patient care for Ontario residents.”

"Ensuring patients get access to the right care at the right time is a key objective for each of Ontario's 14 Local Health Integration Networks,” said Tony Woolgar, CEO, South West LHIN. “We look forward to working closely with Dr. Nathens and supporting his efforts to achieve this goal."

• Every year, over 10,000 critically ill patients are moved from one Ontario hospital to another in order to access the correct specialty service.
• CritiCall Ontario supports physicians across Ontario in accessing and managing the critical care needs of patients, coordinating patient transfers and working to ensure that patients receive care as close to home as possible.

Visit CritiCall Ontario.

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