Solutions

Critical Care Information System (CCIS)

Providing near-real time critical care capacity information for system monitoring and planning.

CritiCall Ontario & CCSO Launch CCIS Modernization Project

CritiCall Ontario and Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO) are excited to announce the launch of the Critical Care Information System (CCIS) Modernization Project!

As part of Ontario’s Critical Care Strategy, the Critical Care Information System (CCIS) captures data on every adult, paediatric and neonatal patient admitted to Level 3 and Level 2 critical care units in Ontario.

The CCIS Modernization Project aims to improve the system by automating data collection of the current CCIS data set and consider capturing expanded indicators to add value for planning and management of access, quality, and system integration for critical care. The focus of this two-year project will shift activities from manual data entry towards automated, real-time capture of critical care capacity and other key data elements and thereby reduce workload for hospital staff.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about this project, please contact: CritiCall at [email protected] or CCSO at [email protected]

Critical Care Information System

CCSO is responsible for strategic oversight of the CCIS, a critical care specific information system that captures information on the bed capacity of the critical care system and the characteristics of its patients. CCIS, a prescribed registry under PHIPA, is hosted by CritiCall Ontario.

The CCIS database is the most comprehensive critical care database providing information on every patient (adult, paediatric, and neonatal) admitted to Level 3 or Level 2 critical care units in Ontario’s acute care hospitals. In addition to providing information on critical care service access and utilization, and patient outcomes, CCIS also provides information to inform capacity monitoring, system planning, and effective management of critical care resources in Ontario. CCIS was developed in consultation with stakeholders across Ontario and was implemented in all adult and paediatric critical care units in 2009, followed by neonatal units in 2018.

Currently, approximately 250 adult, paediatric, and neonatal critical care units enter data into CCIS. All authorized hospital sites can access and download record level data for the site/corporation.

In March 2020, CCIS was enhanced to enable all Level 3 and Level 2 critical care units to enter COVID-19 patient data into CCIS upon a patient’s admission and at any time during their stay in the critical care unit. This data is used by CCSO to monitor the pandemic trend in critical care and to inform decision making of system planners at all levels.

Scorecards and Quarterly Reports

CCSO routinely analyzes and prepares reports using CCIS data such as system scorecards, data quality reports and quarterly performance monitoring reports. These reports are disseminated to hospitals, critical care leads and sub-regional offices (LHINs).

Key Components of CCIS

Web-based data repository for the collection and storage of near-real time critical care data from all acute care hospitals in Ontario. 

Bed-availability Tool (BAT) provides near-real time information on the status of all critical care beds in the CCIS inventory. Around the clock access to this information allows decision makers to better manage system patient flow, avoid surge pressures, and minimize wait times. 

Reports portal provides predefined reports for authorized CCIS end-users to track data and identify areas for quality improvement. The reports focus on key indicators related to access, quality and critical care system performance (e.g. critical care bed occupancy, patient acuity, readmission rates, patient discharge delays and ICU patient mortality). 

Core data export (CDE) is a feature allowing authorized end-users to download record level data for data exploration and additional analysis.  

Online library stores relevant CCIS documents such as the CCIS policy guides and training materials. 

Pandemic Data collection on COVID-19 is a new feature added to CCIS in March 2020. As of March 20, 2020, CCSO utilizes this data to develop COVID-19 dashboards to provide hospital sites, regions, and provincial leadership with information pertinent to COVID-19 activity in critical care, and to inform responsive system planning with key stakeholders to address any emerging pressures in critical care capacity. 

Access to CCIS Data

CCIS data may be requested for research or non-research purposes as permitted under PHIPA. The request can be made by completing the appropriate data request forms (Research; non-Research) and submitted to the CritiCall Ontario Privacy Lead.

Discover more

Resources

Find all our resources and tools in one convenient repository.

Events

Stay up-to-date on upcoming learning and engagement opportunities.

Contact Us

Have a question or want to learn more about CCSO?