IT Professionals Day. Bravo to the whole team!

They're involved in everything! These days, with the digitization of just about all data, they're integral to almost every operation you can imagine in a hospital.

Meet the Information Technology (IT) team! It is comprised of many tentacles, and is organized into three departments offering a variety of services. The server team looks after the infrastructure that supports all applications, whether clinical, administrative or related to databases. The network team is responsible for everyone's connectivity, whether it's the Internet or the wireless network (Wi-Fi). There is of course an IT support group, handling all requests for technical support and ticketing. The welcome centre service is essential to the hospital's internal and external communications. Finally, the IT security team, responsible for protecting the organization's systems and data from threats, ensures network integrity and bandwidth availability.

“In an era where security is a delicate issue, protection measures are in place,” Walid Abssi tells us, taking us on a tour of the third floor of 5100 De Maisonneuve, where the department is located. “For example, the real-time surveillance platform (The Security Operation Center, SOC) uses sophisticated tools to respond rapidly to security incidents,” he explains.

One project that's kept the team busy recently is SMS-Appointments, which enables us to manage appointments, send text messages to patients, send reminders, process responses, and integrate them into a single database. This is the famous Power BI, the interface where MUHC employees can evaluate statistics concerning appointments, length of stay, and more, all at a glance.”

“It was a huge task to retrieve data from several different systems across all MUHC facilities and then create a database to notify all patients by text message,” Kounouz Hlimi and Elizabeth Barnes tell us.

Your role is absolutely essential! A heartfelt thank you to the entire team on this International IT Professionals Day, celebrated on September 19.