The lack of a unified healthcare operating system is an urgent issue facing the healthcare sector. Dr. Tam's recent report, "A Vision to Transform Canada’s Public Health System" (The Chief …, 2021) discusses how, "the national data landscape is fragmented across jurisdictions, governmental organizations, and community-level data owners” (p. 58, para. 2). Moreover, in a statement of the report, Dr. Tam says, "Our pandemic response was hindered in part, by significant gaps in our public health surveillance and data systems" (Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), 2021). These gaps in our healthcare systems are dangerous. If I were to hazard a guess - based on my experience working as a public health case/outbreak investigator from November 2020 to present in a long-term care/retirement home team – I would say we are currently 80% inefficient. I would even argue that it could be declared a logistical emergency (a type of internal crisis, a ‘code brown’).
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