Canadian Grad School News - October Update

The official groundbreaking for the Edmonton Clinic today marks the next step on a journey in patient care, education, and research for Albertans. A partnership between the University of Alberta, Capital Health and the provincial government; the Edmonton Clinic will be a national leader in innovative complex outpatient care, teaching and technology, with a focus on customer service. When open, the Edmonton Clinic will increase outpatient clinic capacity by 50 per cent and will allow 140 beds to be added to the University of Alberta Hospital and Stollery Children's Hospital, will teach an additional 800 health sciences students each year, and will allow rural Albertans to stay in their communities while keeping them connected, via new technologies, to the latest advances in diagnosis and treatment. Leading-edge electronic record systems will create a virtually paperless "digital building," avoiding duplicate tests and supporting fast and accurate decision-making, with an empowered patient at the centre of the process. The clinic is designed to transform the delivery of health services and health science learning in Alberta, utilizing team-based ways to diagnose and treat people on an outpatient basis. In addition, the clinic has been designed to teach health sciences students in an innovative, interdisciplinary environment that allows them to move seamlessly into the new patient-centred system. Students will learn in the most progressive educational environment available, using high-fidelity full-body mannequins and virtual reality or immersive environments. "The Edmonton Clinic will be a world-class facility that transforms the way patients receive care and the way in which health professionals and health sciences students work and learn," said Premier Ed Stelmach. "The Government of Alberta is proud to support this state-of-the-art facility that will ensure our province continues to be a national health leader."
"This unique partnership will offer our patients and their families one-stop access to complex health services and teams of specialists," says Neil Wilkinson, Chair, Capital Health Board of Directors. "For patients in Edmonton, from Central and Northern Alberta and throughout Western Canada, the Edmonton Clinic means a single visit for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of a complex illness or injury, which truly puts the patient first." In thanking the province for its foresight in funding the clinic, University of Alberta Board of Governors Chair Brian Heidecker said, "The Edmonton Clinic will epitomize the transformative way our teachers will teach, the way our students will learn, focusing on a team-based environment using the latest technologies. This clinic will provide the setting and technology to prepare students for a seamless transition into health professions uniquely distinguished by a new way of providing treatment, diagnosis and learning. All Albertans will be the beneficiaries of this new approach." The clinic is expected to open in 2011 at a cost of $909 million. It will consist of 106,000 square metres in two facilities along 114 Street across from the University of Alberta Hospital. Teaching and research will take place in the north portion with clinical care in the south portion of the complex, connected to each other and existing hospital and research space by pedways.