The first few days of a new digital health records system are in the books in the Halifax area. One Person One Record (OPOR) rolled out at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, and Nova Scotia Health (NSH) says they heard “all kinds of good feedback” to start. Unions representing health-care workers have been raising alarms, saying they feel underprepared for the launch, with the NSGEU going so far as to call for a delay in the rollout. “Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s a big change. In terms of making change, it’s hard,” says Eileen MacGibbon, the Central Zone’s vice president of operations for the health authority. “However, team members [were] mentioning immediately to us that they are seeing the value and seeing how much easier it is to care for patients when information is so much more easily shared amongst team members.” On Monday, Doctors Nova Scotia told CTV News they believe the rollout has gone smoother than the previous launch at the IWK, but that they’ll keep a close eye on how things progress – and share any physician feedback. Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone medical executive director says as much emphasis as possible was put on training and preparation. “I think it’s fair to say that staff committed lots of time to the training over the last months, and it’s variable,” says Dr. Aaron Smith. “But there certainly was a universal resolve to do as much preparation as people possibly could.” He says shifting away from paper copies and faxing health records – and replacing or integrating 50 health systems – has been “years” in the making. “I wish I would have had this when I started practice,” he says. “We need to do this now.” Smith says keeping patients’ records throughout their entire health care experience in one place will benefit them and their care providers. “More importantly, as the patient leaves the acute care environment and goes back into the community, primary care providers and primary care teams in community also have access to that information in almost real time.” Certain services have been reduced to start, but NSH says they’ll get back up to speed as soon as possible. “[OPOR] fundamentally changes how we provide care and how we can coordinate care across teams, both within hospitals and eventually across the province,” Smith says. “I can’t understate what a change this is going to be for our teams and a change for Nova Scotians.” Nova Scotia Health says this rollout will help the provincewide implementation, which is due by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, in an era fixated on cybersecurity, the health authority says they’re as focused on that as patients would be. “We have all of the safeguards in place that [patients] would expect to see,” says MacGibbon. “We have a really, very rigorous, structure of support to reduce and mitigate any risk that can exist as it relates to cybersecurity.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
