Ottawa Hospital Combats Ovarian Cancer with New System Built on the Microsoft .NET Framework
Gynecology-Oncology pilot project first of its kind in Canada
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OTTAWA - July 3, 2003 — Ottawa Hospital announced today a pilot project to create and test an ovarian cancer patient data collection and analysis system that will assist Ottawa Hospital doctors and researchers in working to find a cure and improve treatment for one of the leading causes of cancer death in Canadian women.
The Gynecology-Oncology Services Ovarian Cancer System (GOSOCS) will collect a complete set of patient data in real time as the trial participants go through their daily routines. In addition to actual patient data, 100 fictitious patients will be created with clinical data associated with each so that analysis routines and tools can be adequately monitored and assessed.
"Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in women often requiring a complex multidisciplinary care approach and management plan," said Dr. Tien Le, Associate Professor of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Ottawa. "Using GOSOCS, we can instantaneously and accurately produce data that will help us individualize treatment and alter the treatment plan to improve patients' outcomes. Furthermore, relevant trends that might lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment regimes can be easily identified."
The four month prototype will run on the Microsoft® Windows ServerTM 2003 operating system using some of the latest .NET connection software tools as the primary underlying architecture.
"What we're hearing from the medical community is that the biggest challenge to capturing accurate clinical information and transferring that knowledge for analysis is that doctors are mobile and all that information only exists on an individual case basis in paper charts," said Ben Watson, Senior Product Manager, .NET Developer, Microsoft Canada Co. ".NET Connected Software enables users to access and use important information, wherever and whenever it is so, physicians, nurses, and eventually, pharmacists, psychologists, and social workers will all be able to record and send patient data through wireless devices and desktop computers."
Working with the Ottawa Hospital's Gynecologic Oncology program, the pilot project is being deployed in a carefully phased manner to ensure that there is no adverse impact on hospital networks and systems, no increase in workload for hospital staff, and no negative effect on patient care or personal privacy.
"After training some of the nurses and surgeons on the system, we helped them move from a totally paper-based system to an electronic one that takes advantage of the power of the Microsoft .NET Framework, saves a lot of time and improves recording accuracy," said Colin Wright, Senior Partner, SysteMagic Software Solutions Inc. SysteMagic Software has provided its Magician solution for the User Interface, Database Management, and Administrative infrastructure of GOSOCS.
"We couldn't move to an electronic system immediately, partly because of staff comfort with the old paper-based environment, and partly because of the regulations that were in place to manage patient information. Now, those issues have been dealt with and everyone is very happy with the new system," added Wright.
The GOSOCS pilot is scheduled to be completed at the end of August 2003. Based on the successful outcome of the pilot, funding for the deployment of a complete system to Ottawa Hospital and five other Ontario hospitals studying Ovarian Cancer will be requested.
The pilot is being watched closely by others who could benefit from similar solutions. It may be expanded in the future to include data for endometrial and cervical cancers.
About the University of Ottawa Gynecologic Oncology Program
The Gynecologic Oncology program at the University of Ottawa utilizes a team comprehensive approach to treat women with gynecologic cancers. The program strives to provide excellent clinical care, education, and cutting edge research with strong emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. The team consisted of Gynecologic oncologists, nurses, pharmacist, psychologist, social workers, and well known basic scientist researchers in ovarian cancers.
About SysteMagic Software Solutions Inc.
Systemagic was incorporated in 2000 by the principals of six high-tech companies in the national capital area who had spent their entire careers developing custom solutions for large organizations all over the world. These specialists identified major similarities between these very expensive 'custom' Web publishing and transaction solutions and decided that they should be consolidated into a much less expensive suite of commercial products. They succeeded! The resulting suite of products is known collectively as 'Magician' in recognition of its flexibility in meeting a variety of customer requirements right out of the box. For more information please visit SysteMagic at www.systemagic.ca
About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Headquartered in Mississauga, Microsoft Canada has 10 regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Visit Microsoft Canada's web site at www.microsoft.ca
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