Go from paper to digital in less than a year. Hire a team of co-op students to make it happen. That was the task in front of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton – and the hospital rose to the challenge
Go from paper to digital in less than a year. Hire a team of co-op students to make it happen. That was the task in front of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton – and the hospital rose to the challenge
You've been asked to hire for a major project – but only for the short term. Where do you find a team with the skills to support a major initiative and the willingness to accept a short-term contract?
This was the challenge posed to Chelsea King, a project analyst at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. St. Joe’s tasked King with recruiting a large team – specifically, a team of co-op students – for a major digital upgrade at the hospital.
“When I heard we needed to hire 60 students, I thought it was crazy,” King says. But as a former co-op student herself (she graduated from the University of Waterloo’s Science and Business Program in 2017), she knew how to recruit the top talent.
King posted jobs at 15 post-secondary schools across Canada, screened 300 applicants, conducted 150 interviews and ended up with 58 of the best co-op students in Canada (including 35 from her alma mater).
In just four months, this team helped St. Joe’s become a fully electronic hospital, one of only eight in Canada today with this level of technology.
Affectionately dubbed a “co-op army” by King, the students helped launch a fully integrated, safe and secure information solution that places all of a patient’s information into one digital location. Under the previous paper-based system, a single visit to the hospital could result in more than 180 pieces of paper, creating the potential for errors and inefficiency. With the new digital platform, patients only need to tell their full story once, and all caregivers see that same information.
The model used by St. Joe’s is certainly unique, even for those who have hired co-op students before. Onboarding nearly 60 hires for an intensive four-month project might seem intimidating, but Ross Johnston, executive director of co-operative education at Waterloo, says that support from fellow co-op students actually helps them to be more confident and successful in their roles. He’s in awe of the work that has been accomplished.
“It’s incredible, the courage shown by St. Joe’s to take this leap toward becoming a fully digital hospital,” Johnston sa value that students bring to the workplace is increasingly being recognized as an essential tool in the progression and success of an organization.”
That’s a trend Johnston sees across many employers. No longer does the term ‘intern’ or ‘co-op student’ conjure an image of a coffeefetching assistant. Today’s HR managers are hiring for the true knowledge, expertise and energy that students can bring into the workplace.
The St. Joe’s co-op students embodied this trend. They participated in a variety of jobs, including technical readiness testing, change management, data validation and training hospital staff on the new software. Bharath Sritharan, a second-year biochemistry student at Waterloo, worked in the operating room during live procedures, charting the digital process in real time as a training exercise for doctors and nurses.
Maria Valencia helped run a technical ‘dress rehearsal’ at the hospital. Valencia, a second-year biomedical engineering student at Waterloo, tested more than 2,000 new digital workstations. When a workstation didn’t pass a test, her team would make the required changes to ensure it was functioning and ready for the system launch.
St. Joe’s officially flipped the switch to become a digital operation on December 2, 2017, at 2:00 a.m., but the co-op team’s work didn’t end once the system was live. The hospital provided six weeks of 24-hour support following the launch, supported by the co-op students.
King says the co-op team has been up for the challenge, regardless of the unconventional hours and operation it required. “It’s not always ideal, and they don’t get a desk and an office at times, but they’ve been so flexible throughout all of this,” she says.
Tara Coxon, chief information officer at St. Joe’s, isn’t surprised that the students are so adaptable. A strong proponent of the co-op experience, she knew that bringing in a large co-op team would get the job done. Her message to the students: “We would not be here without you. You are an integral part of our team. You are key.”
University of Waterloo co-op students are available for hire year-round. Our team is based across Canada and is ready to provide on-the-ground support for your hiring needs. To post a job or learn more about our hiring process, contact us at [email protected].
