CAP Innovation Fellowship Program
Application Deadline
The application period for the 2024-25 CAP Innovation Fellowship Program has officially ended. If you have questions, kindly book an appointment or email CAPFellowship@uhn.ca.
Stories about past fellows and their leadership journey...
 Lindsay Love, RN, MN |
In 2010, my fellowship project focused on a peer recognition program to support a Healthy Work Environment (one of several requirements for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Beacon Award). The Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network was the first Canadian gold level recipient of the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence... |
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In 2012, we presented at both the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Excellent Care for All conference in Toronto; and, the International Nursing Conference in Jerusalem, Israel.
Since my fellowship, I completed a Masters of Nursing at Ryerson University focusing on Leadership, Education and Health Policy. I also expanded my leadership skills by joining unit council and training as a charge nurse. In 2015, I assumed the role of an Advanced Practice Nurse Educator in the Coronary Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and partnered with the team on quality improvement initiatives. To gain new skills in strategic thinking, organizational behavior and operational experience, I accepted a secondment as the Interim Manager of CICU which became my new full-time position.
 Amy Yang, RN |
My CAP Innovation Fellowship project focused on standardizing the use of medical tapes and switching to single-patient use tapes to minimize cross-contamination. These changes improve patient care by decreasing potential risk of infection and medical-adhesive skin injuries through staff education... |
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- I shared my project poster at the Infection Prevention and Control Canada conference in May 2018. Subsequently, I received the Betty Watt Prize for Courageous Leadership in Nursing. The fellowship program helped me develop leadership, networking and communication skills to effectively interact with different stakeholders such as managers, physicians, and senior directors to strategize and align our goals to improve patient care in tape usage at UHN. Recently, I assumed a new position as a Clinical Research Nurse at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network.
 Nazlin Jivraj, RN |
The CAP Innovation Fellowship Program enriched my career, beginning with learning how to plan and implement a quality improvement project. My project focused on improving the care of gynecology oncology patients at risk of or with malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) by optimizing the role of the specialized oncology nurse within the interprofessional team... |
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This was achieved by developing a nurse-led colour coded symptom management algorithm for identification, assessment and management.
Statistics from July 2016 to December 2017 showed the project impact: a decline in hospital length of stay from 25 to 14 days and reduced emergency department admissions from 40 to 22 episodes.
Subsequent to my project, I received the Mary Ferguson-Paré Award for Innovation in Nursing. In 2018, I presented at the International Conference on Cancer Nursing in New Zealand on “A Novel Proactive Approach to Ambulatory Management of Malignant Bowel Obstruction in Gynecology Oncology.” Most importantly, the MBO program team at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network received the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario award and is now working on disseminating their work:
 R.J. Edralin, RN |
The Innovation Fellowship program education seminars helped me build knowledge and skills in many areas such as change management. Through further reflection, I developed an understanding and appreciation for “collaborative ownership” in project management and how it is more effective than buy-in to enable changes in culture and practice... |
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- I began my nursing career as a staff nurse at University Health Network (UHN) and was working in the Emergency Department at Toronto Western Hospital when I participated in the Innovation Fellowship program. Since the fellowship, I have held formal and informal leadership roles, and eventually decided to pursue graduate education. Currently, I am enrolled in the Master of Nursing Program at Ryerson University, in the Leadership in Health Policy and Education stream, while working within the Collaborative Academic Practice (CAP) portfolio as the Clinical Care Coordinator for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), which is a new program impacting patients, families, and interprofessional teams across UHN.
Stories about patient partners and how they became involved...
 Chado Brcic |
When signing up for Patient Partners, I had no idea what would be involved. All I knew was that I wanted to volunteer in some useful manner, to express in some small way, my gratitude for my life-saving double lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital (TGH)... |
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Among the most interesting of my assignments, is reviewing and scoring the Innovation Fellowship Program projects. It proves to me how important and useful the projects are with their focus on health quality improvement; as well as, their impact at the point of patient care. As a patient, I can clearly relate to how valuable and enlightening these projects are and how innovation and patient centered care are priorities at University Health Network (UHN).
I enjoy attending the project presentations and I am very impressed with the passion and energy that staff display for their projects!
 Marcella Calouro & Paul Moffatt |
Marcella: I am a Cardiovascular Technologist with 17 years of experience in the Cardiac Rehabilitation program at Rumsey Centre. I developed a strategic relationship with Paul, a retired Firefighter, past patient in the cardiac rehab program and who is now a Patient Partner at UHN. Paul: I chose to give back as a Patient Partner and supporting this CAP Innovation Fellowship project provided the opportunity to tell "my story" and share my own experiences... |
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We teamed up to educate the cardiac post-surgical team at Toronto General Hospital regarding the importance of cardiovascular rehabilitation following heart surgery. The project goal was to emphasize the importance of bedside patient engagement in conversations about the next step in their journey following surgery, and the referral to and participation in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation.
Our project’s results showed that patient education at the bedside, significantly improved the post-surgical team’s attitude and confidence in talking to their patients about attending a Cardiovascular Rehab program. As a result, patients were better informed, better prepared and eager to begin the next step of their journey!