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December 19, 2024
Manitoba, like many Canadian provinces, faces challenges with surgery wait times and backlogs since 2020. As a result, the Manitoba government was funding patients to get surgery out of province (and even in the U.S.).
Meanwhile digital health tools have been helping healthcare organizations to empower patients, reduce the backlog and improve patient outcomes. But access to these innovations isn't universal yet…
This is the story of a 75-year-old patient who discovered the power of SeamlessMD when the Manitoba government funded his knee surgery in another province, highlighting the potential–and the gaps–in the Canadian healthcare system.
A Journey Beyond Borders
The patient travelled across the provincial border to Thunder Bay, Ontario for his knee surgery at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. This included pre-op preparation, the surgery and post-discharge recovery.
While the care he received by the hospital team was exceptional, the patient raved about how the Digital Health experience provided by the hospital using SeamlessMD was critical to him being more prepared, having an accelerated, same-day surgery and ultimately a safer recovery.
In the letter, he shares:
"A month prior to surgery I had to download an app called “SeamlessMD” from the Thunder Bay Regional Health orthopaedic department.
Every day, I had to log in, verify that I'd done my exercises via questionnaire and pay attention to pre-surgical preparations.
The app set up telephone appointment times for consults with the anesthesia team and the surgeon who would do my procedure. Any questions I had were immediately answered.
Post surgery, my portable catheter dispensed nerve-block at 5 ml per hour for the next 60 hours while I went about reclaiming my life with little or no pain! The “SeamlessMD” app provided videos on how to safely remove the catheter line when the nerve agent was done.
It also tracked my progress daily for the next 30 days, asking about pain, mobility targets, exercise regimes and emotional state.
If I had questions, a nurse-practitioner would return a call the same day! Similarly, if I had concerns about the wound site, I could upload a photo and the surgeon would get back to me almost immediately.
The result of this new way of doing things was that I achieved mobility (bend and extension) targets four to six weeks ahead of normal!"
How good was the experience?
So good that the patient immediately wrote to the Manitoba government:
"Upon my return to Winnipeg, I immediately wrote our new health minister, thanking them and requesting face-to-face time to recount my overwhelmingly positive experience. I stated at the outset that I was not advocating for the return of the out-of-province program. I solely wanted them and their senior officials to consider the surgical protocols I so pleasantly experienced."
The Access to Care Gap
Despite SeamlessMD's success, this level of care isn't available to everyone. Manitoba's program for out-of-province surgeries was discontinued after a change in government, leaving many patients without the option of travelling out of province to hospitals and health authorities that provide SeamlessMD.
When this patient recently sought surgery for his other knee, he was told that the same accelerated recovery protocols and digital care wasn't available in Manitoba. Instead, he was told to expect a longer, 3 to 5 day hospital stay, without SeamlessMD to guide his recovery.
This story isn't just about one patient's experience–it highlights a broader issue of healthcare access. SeamlessMD is already making a tremendous difference across other provinces like Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. But for patients in Manitoba, the benefits of digital care journeys remain out of reach.
Building a Community of Care
At the heart of this story is a simple truth: digital care works best when it's available to everyone who needs it. As a healthcare community, we must advocate for equal access to these innovations, ensuring that all patients, regardless of where they live, can benefit from the best that modern medicine has to offer.
This patient's journey is a testament to the potential of digital care. It's a call to action for healthcare providers, policymakers, and patients alike to come together and support the expansion of tools like SeamlessMD across all regions.
Join the Conversation:
If you’ve had experience with digital care, or if you’re interested in how we can make these tools more accessible, send us an email at info@seamless.md. Your insights and experiences are valuable as we work toward a future where every patient’s recovery journey is supported by the best in digital care.
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