June 28 saw a historic merger between two local hospitals: Kingston General Hospital (KGH) and Hotel Dieu Hospital.
For students of the Queen’s medical school, the newly amalgamated corporation is expected to have minimal repercussions on their residencies and placements in either institution.
According to Richard Reznick, Dean of Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences, discussions regarding integration or amalgamation between the two institutions had been almost non-existent for the past 20 years.
“The atmosphere for those discussions has been quite chilly until about two or three years ago,” he explained to The Journal.
“Two or three years ago, there was a resuscitated initiative championed by myself, the physician community, and leaders of both hospital boards.”
For Reznick, the leadership of the boards was a cornerstone of the project seeing success.
Reznick is currently working with officials from both hospitals to create one fully integrated organization, which he hopes will provide more seamless care for patients between the two locations.
“That’s going to ultimately benefit the patients, because [right now] if you were to go to KGH and have something done and you had a follow up at Hotel Dieu, it’s a different organization with a different administrative process.”
Queen’s medical students have historically completed placements and programs in medical care facilities around Kingston. Both KGH and Hotel Dieu were partners of the medical school prior to the merger and will continue to be following their amalgamation.
“Our students will continue to be the beneficiaries of great education at both institutions, only now it will effectively be one single institution,” Reznick said.
The third partner, Providence Care, will continue as a location for students to study fields such as adult mental health treatment and forensic psychiatry.
Reznick doesn’t anticipate a great impact on the students due to the merger, but rather on the quality of care they are able to participate in for patients of both hospitals.
Looking forward, Reznick has high hopes that the amalgamation integration will help local medical professionals capitalize on all the resources available to them within the Kingston medical community.
Finally, he also hopes that the change will be the driving factor behind further, and possibly greater, positioning for more movements in the future.
“The greatest valued proposition is that we will have a single voice and face regarding government and strategic directions for our hospitals,” he said.
“The structure of the new integration will be such that it could welcome other partners in to the organization with time.”
Tags
hospitals, Hotel Dieu, KGH, medical school, merger, placement, Queen's Faculty of Health Sciences, residency, Richard Reznick
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