Like all MSH staff, Bolt, Sparkles, and Spenser, are working to improve patient care and safety and to make hospital systems more efficient.

But they are also very different from other staff — they’re robots.

“We have many digital initiatives on the go to provide clinicians with the tools they need to provide better care,” says Felix Zhang, Vice President, Digital Health and Chief Information Officer. “We are also using technology to enable administrative tools to reduce staff workload and enable greater collaboration within the organization.”

Bolt and Sparkles are advanced robotic cleaners, called autonomous auto scrubbers. The scrubbers use sensors to detect obstacles and pause when people are nearby. In addition to enhanced cleaning, they improve MSH’s conservation efforts by saving 80 per cent of the water typically required by traditional cleaning methods.

“The scrubbers ensure a clean and welcoming environment and allow staff to focus their energies on more impactful cleaning methodologies, such as addressing infection prevention and control and ensuring high-touch surfaces are disinfected more often,” says Keith MacMillan, Manager of Environmental Services.

Spenser, an advanced, automated medication-dispensing robot, is part of MSH’s new Outpatient Pharmacy. It’s interfaced with our dispensing system (Kroll) in our Outpatient Pharmacy. Spenser is capable of filling up to 150 prescriptions an hour, using barcode technology to ensure accuracy and eliminate cross-contamination risk. In addition to counting pills and labelling medications, which reduces wait times for prescriptions, Spenser tracks expiry dates. If there is a recall of medication, Spenser can provide the data needed to track who received that medication.

By streamlining pharmacy operations, Spenser allows staff to focus more time on providing personalized care to patients. “Spenser enables the pharmacy technicians to reduce their time to count pills,” says Shellyna Moledina, Director of Pharmacy. “It also ensures patient safety because we know the right drug is being provided to the right patient.”

Strengthening clinical information systems

OVH marked several Digital Health achievements in 2024-2025, including laying the foundation for implementation of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) expected to go-live in the fall of 2025. CPOE will allow providers to directly enter internal orders for such things as diagnostic imaging, medications, and labs online. In addition to reducing the number of steps it takes to launch and fulfil an order, CPOE reduces errors.

OVH has also planned to launch Web Ambulatory (WebAMB), a similar platform as CPOE previously piloted in its adult diabetes clinics, across other clinics later this year as well. WebAMB is a web-based solution that facilitates appointments, follow-ups, and orders and gives health care providers from OVH and its SHINE partners, Southlake Health and Stevenson Memorial Hospital, access to each other’s patient records. OVH has also moved legacy patient records to its MEDITECH Expanse system, enabling seamless access to historical data.

In addition, Digital Health has collaborated with Diagnostic Services to launch an automatic referral system and rebuild its resource scheduling system, improving patient flow, and reducing wait times.

Enhancing operations and integrating digital health systems

Several initiatives to enhance operations have been implemented over the past year, including a tap and go system at providers’ shared workstations that enables quick access to patient records. OVH has also joined the Central Region North Local Delivery Group focusing on cybersecurity and has implemented Cyber Vault, a backup system to protect data and ensure business continuity in the event of a cyber breach.

The organization has also rolled out Workday, a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) to improve efficiency and the employee experience.

OVH has also enabled the two-way exchange of clinical information — including allergies, medications, and immunizations — with more than 40 other Ontario hospitals in the MEDITECH Traverse Exchange Network.

Inspiring innovation

The future of digital innovation is being driven by artificial intelligence (AI), which promises personalized care, real-time guidance, and reduced workloads for clinicians.

“I’m really excited about how AI can personalize care by analyzing patient data and providing tailored treatment and real-time health guidance,” says Marlene Ross, Director of Digital Solutions. “This empowers patients to play an active role in managing their own health. And for staff, it will help with administrative burdens and become a co-worker on care delivery.”

OVH is developing an AI framework to ensure responsible, transparent, accountable, and secure use of these new technologies.

“AI has the potential to provide clinicians with information faster, facilitating informed decisions,” says Marlene. “But there is always going to be a human in the loop. We want to ensure that when we integrate AI into our work, we understand the regulations, processes, and policies around its use.”

“Digital Health is definitely a cornerstone of what we do to enable and support our patients, physicians, clinicians, nurses, and allied health professionals,” says Marlene. “I’m really proud of everything we have done over the past year.”

Shaping the future: Upgrades to electronic health records (EHR) with key functionalities — like Web-Oncology, mobile tools for nurses and physicians, and a Labour and Delivery solution with fetal monitoring will support advanced patient care. In addition to CPOE going live later in 2025, the organization is implementing a new staff scheduling and timekeeping solution that has both a web-based and app-based interface with customizable functionality dependent on roles and requirements.