Code grey: Inside a 'catastrophic' IT failure at the Queensway Carleton HospitalStaff at Queensway Carleton Hospital debated over whether to send out this photo internally when declaring a code grey on Sept. 9. A hospital-wide hardware failure caused nearly 20 hours of problems, including an outage that affected medical devices, servers and phones.
According to QCH executives, a one-two punch of computer hardware failures — first the primary core, then the backup core — affected everything from medical devices to phones."This is the worst-case scenario," a hospital vice president concluded in a memo. Inaccessible medical records, inoperable equipment, defective backup phones and pagers, and poor communication from administrators plagued the QCH for nearly 20 hours in early September when a 'code grey' was declared, internal records obtained through a Freedom of Information request show.
At least four physicians expressed dismay over the "catastrophic event," according to the records. CBC is not identifying the four individuals because they were clearly complaining internally. In its subsequent statement to CBC, QCH said "there were no patient safety incidents reported that caused harm, nor privacy violations."During the early hours of the code grey crisis when most phones, internet and IT systems were down, staff scrambled to notify each other and find alternative ways to communicate.
"Do you guys have any spare cell phones down there?" wrote one staff member in a message typical of the early emails sent from an iPhone. Ambulances were redirected to The Ottawa Hospital during the day, but the executive team at QCH chose to keep the ED open through the night, despite calls from physicians to do the opposite."There was an ask to close the ED," Yvonne Wilson, vice-president of patient care would later reveal in an email dated Sept. 10.
According to meeting minutes, during the peak of the night, nine ambulances were dropping off patients, which "challenged" the ED.The Ottawa Paramedic Service said it experienced four hours of "level zero" on the evening of Sept. 9 — ambulances were maxed out from 5 p.m. to midnight. He said he was unable to help the patient because he had "no ability to access any of his records, or previous imaging.""It was more [out] of necessity than a decision. Unfortunately, it is the front-line team that carries the burden," the statement read.According to the various meeting minutes, sometime at night, hospital staff found a way to use an old monitor to view CT scans.
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Well documents from CBC to begin with i wouldnt trust!
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Not like during the COVID pandemic.
'Exceptionally unsafe'? They are at a hospital, Probably the safest place on the planet. is telling a whopper here. DefundCBC FakeNewsMedia MediaLies Propaganda
Would have been nice to see a massive financial contribution to improve our healthcare capacity/hiring over the pandemic instead of just pushing a vaccine
Are they using the EPIC System? 🧐
Disaster Recovery Plans .... Implement them ... Test them annually. AlwaysBackup
End all covid restrictions and mandates in Canada 🇨🇦
Are these the same folks who cancelled life saving surgeries and treatments, costing thousands of people their lives, while these hero's quivered in fear from a virus that had a 99% survival rate?
Hmm, i think in the good old days it was WRITTEN ON PAPER WITH A PEN..lol