The 2008 OSCAR awards!

At the user group meeting on April 11, 2008, the "OSCARs" were given out to recognize contribution to the OSCAR EMR by OSCAR users. The following awards were presented:

Dr. David Chan -Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Chan is the founder of OSCAR  EMR and has provided vision and inspirational leadership to the global OSCAR community. Dr. Chan has gone on to create MyOSCAR, MyDrugRef and OSCAR Resource. Dr. Chan has contributed countless hours of volunteer time to the OSCAR project over the last decade. He has made a major contribution educating his colleagues about the benefits of open source medical software and then making this a reality. Dr. Chan travels to BC several times per year to support the BC OSCAR User group.

Drs. Jel Coward and Rebecca Lindley -OSCAR(s) User of the Year Award

Drs. Coward and Lindley were the first practice in BC to install OSCAR and brought this incredible open source EMR to the attention of other physicians in BC. They have provided great leadership into the development of the OSCAR user's community in British Columbia. Their Pemberton Clinic is known for it's willingness to be on "the bleeding edge" and to test all new software programming for BC users. They have contributed to new software development, the PITO RFP process, organizing the user group, demonstrating OSCAR to interested physicians, running the OSCAR list serve and so much more.

Jay Gallagher -Programmer of the Year

Jay Gallagher is the lead programmer of the OSCAR suite of products. He oversees the contributions of other developers and the OSCAR roadmap. Jay is known for his clear understanding and keen observation of the work flow in a medical office and often anticipates development needs before the users. Jay always makes himself available to the users to hear their ideas and concerns. (The chocolate computer award he is holding is a Mac, not a PC!)

Patti Rodger-Kirkpatrick - OSCAR Goddess Award

Patti began her work with OSCAR as the office manager in the first OSCAR practice in British Columbia. She was instrumental in developing the BC billing package and many other new software features. Patti also provided leadership in the submission of an RFP to PITO. Patti now runs a support company called OSCARWest and is known for her willingness to provide support "above and beyond" the call of duty. Patti also leads the OSCAR MOA group.

Crossroads Family Practice (Chilliwack) -Best new OSCAR Practice

The team at Crossroads Family Practice began using OSCAR in 2007 and immediately became major contributers to the OSCAR user group. The user group was thrilled to receive over 140 new eforms built by the Crossroads team lead by Shelter Lee and Dr. David Page. Dr. Quentin Smith took the lead in using voice recognition software with OSCAR and educating other users about this. Drs. Quentin Smith and Cameron Ross have also contributed over 100 hours of volunteer time developing enhanced tools for chronic disease management. Ruth has been very active in the MOA group.

Dr. Carole White -OSCAR Volunteer of the Year

Dr. White is known as the OSCAR user who is always the first to volunteer for any job that needs to be done. Dr. White has recently taken on the job of treasurer for the OSCARCanada User's Society. She also completed the applications for funding for summer students for the OSCAR project. She assisted in the PITO RFP process. Dr. White has also been active in overseeing software development such as the INR form.

South Community Birthing Centre -Best Software Commissioners

The team at SCBC (led by Dr. Sue Harris, midwife, Lee Saxell and Dr. Joan Robillard) have made major contributions to the OSCAR community, particularly in the area of obstetrics. This team has twice commissioned and overseen the development of antenatal records, labour and delivery records and newborn records for the EMR. The antenatal record is known as the best in BC and has many features not available on the paper form or in other EMRs. They have also overseen the development of a sophisticated reporting system that allows users to create reports on any of the fields in the various obstetrics reports. This has allowed for effective quality improvement cycles to improve antenatal care in our clinics.

Dr. Tracy Monk-Most Enthusiastic Non-OSCAR User

Dr. Monk was fast out of the starting gate, making contributions to the OSCAR community months before her OSCAR install! Dr. Monk has commissioned the development of a BC Health Passport form in OSCAR that can be printed and given to patients. She has been a great deal of help in building the new OSCARCanada website and has been active spreading the word about open source software to colleagues. We welcome Dr. Monk to the usergroup and look forward to her contribution when she is actually using OSCAR!

Dr. Shelter Lee-Best Volunteer Developer

Dr. Lee began contributing to OSCAR when he was a resident at the Crossroads Cinic. Dr. Lee has programmed an incredible 140 eforms in his first year as an OSCAR user including the very popular BC lab and imaging requisitions, complex care plan forms and clinical tools. He is working on a genogram tool for OSCAR. All of this work has been done on volunteer hours. The user group thanks Dr. Lee for this fantastic donation of time and expertise.

Newcombe House Family Practice-Best Non-techy Practice

Newcombe House Family Practice is another clinic new to OSCAR this year. Despite joking that they do not really like computers or email much, they have been off to a glowing start with OSCAR. We were thrilled to see Drs. Mark MacKenzie and John Hamilton fly all the way to Winnipeg to participate in the first National OSCAR User group meeting. The Newcombe House team has also funded the development of the new antenatal record and the user group is very grateful for this.

Drs. Colleen Kirkham and Steve Kurdyak

Drs. Kirkham and Kurdyak of Bayswater Family Practice were thanked for organizing the usergroup meeting and the OSCAR awards.