WINNIPEG – The University of Manitoba is exploring whether AI can reduce surgical wait times in hospitals which remain a challenge for Manitoba’s health-care system. According to researchers, more than 1,300 people are facing the orthopedic surgery backlog, with a median wait time of 170 days. For patients living with chronic pain or limited mobility, these delays can significantly affect their quality of life. Dr. Jay Toor, assistant professor at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and orthopedic surgeon at Winnipeg’s Concordia Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, is leading an initiative to develop new technology called The Operating Room Intelligence and Optimization Network, or ORION, which is an AI-powered system designed to better predict surgical needs and improve operating room scheduling. Rather than waiting for scheduling problems to emerge, ORION aims to give hospital teams information they can use to plan ahead. “When we ran this program at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, this was like a preliminary version of it, we were able to increase efficiency up to 30 per cent; that means 30 per cent faster,” said Toor. “You didn’t have to build any operating room. You didn’t have to hire any more staff. You’re just able to squeeze more efficiency out of this existing stuff without stressing out staff.” The project will be tested at Manitoba’s largest hospital Health Sciences Centre (HSC). Toor says the team will use ORION to analyze 10 years of historical patient data from HSC in the first year, which will determine how accurately the AI model would have predicted surgical demand in the past. In the project’s second year, the team will focus on prospective testing. “I’m very optimistic we’re going to be the first jurisdiction that uses a predicted and optimized AI model to schedule our surgeries,” he said. Toor believes ORION could produce capacity for five to eight per cent more orthopedic surgeries and could reduce wait times by up to 15 per cent. He also believes more efficient scheduling could save the province $2-4 million annually. “It’s massively important,” he said. “We have to build out more infrastructure, but what we don’t want to do is build our infrastructure that we haven’t made more efficient first, so this is an incremental step.” “There’s going to be a lot of changes to our health system, and things are trending in the right direction,” he said. ‘Just sit and wait’ For Manitoban Guy Arnel, simply getting out of a chair and walking is a daily battle. After dealing with years of back pain, and waiting for surgery in Manitoba, Arnel decided to take matters into his own hands and travelled to Mexico last year, where he paid around $35,000 for his much-needed procedure. Now, not even two years later, he’s in pain once again, facing yet another lengthy wait. He’s waiting for hip surgery and was told it could take up to 18 months in Manitoba. “I’m still an active guy. I do lots of crazy stuff. Now I can’t do anything. Just sit and wait,” he said. “Eighteen months, to me, is terrible to hobble around. I’m so tired of hobbling around.” He is now once again looking out of province for surgery, but he says it will come at a cost. “Calgary’s $30,000; Quebec’s $24,000; Ontario $30,000, but now I’ve discovered that next door, Saskatchewan is $12,000,” he said. “So that’s what I’m working on right now to go to Regina and see what I can get done there.” “I’m running out of money, but your health is important,” he said. While U of M researchers are working on technology to try and reduce the ever-growing backlog, Arnel is not confident it will change anything. “I feel like this is the way it is,” he said.
