A significant milestone for Erie Shores HealthCare.
ESHC has announced the launch of its Academic Office for Research, a ground breaking initiative aimed at transforming healthcare in the community, joining only a few other small hospitals provincewide to establish a dedicated research department.
The Academic Office for Research will serves as the central hub for all clinicians and students interested in research within the ESHC community.
With a focus on efficiency, effectiveness, and collaboration, officials say this initiative will profoundly impact healthcare and research in Essex County.
The main objectives of the Academic Office for Research include:
- Centralizing, providing oversight, and streamlining research at ESHC for efficiency and
effectiveness
- Offering administrative support for approved research projects to make the process
seamless for researchers
- Standardizing research processes across the healthcare system to ensure consistency
and quality
- Strengthening local partnerships, fostering collaboration, and building a robust health
research system in Essex County
- Enhancing the quality of clinical care and the overall health of the population served
- Realizing revenue opportunities to sustain and expand research efforts
- Celebrating local talent and successes in healthcare research
Neelu Sehgal, Director of Interprofessional Practice and Research and Chief Nursing Executive at ESHC, says they're dedicated to improving clinical care and the overall health of the community while celebrating the incredible talents of researchers.
"Having an academic research office within Erie Shores is extremely exciting for not only our hospital, but for our community as well. It's going to help us ensure that we are bringing best practises and high quality care to the bedside," she said.
Sehgal says anytime you incorporate research into practise there are multiple benefits.
"What it does is it really helps us figure out what the best treatments are, what the best practises are. It helps us to identify new and better ways to diagnose, treat, and just overall the health and well being of our patients and our families."
ESHC recently received three Igniting Discovery Grants through the WESPARK Health Institute, which has allowed them to bring in new staff for the Office for Research.
Sehgal says anytime that you can put yourself on the map, develop, and innovate it only means good things for the community.
She says they believe they do great work at ESHC, and provide great care, but they're still constantly looking to improve and creating this office will help to do that.
"It allows us to highlight, and draw in local talent from different areas. Practitioners that really want to be able to move patient outcomes forward," Sehgal said.
The Academic Office for Research is already getting to work, with the launch of three projects designed to address specific community needs.
Sehgals says these projects are the first of many aimed at positively impacting healthcare in the region.