represents our resolve to work with committed partners to implement targeted patient safety improvement initiatives (push strategy)
represents our commitment to, and demand for, proven patient safety policies and practices to enable improvement (pull strategy)
Patient safety incidents are the third leading cause of death in Canada, behind cancer and heart disease, yet most people are unaware that the problem exists. In the By the Numbers section, we showcase our work to address preventable harm. We report on progress toward our outputs – both immediate and intermediate outcomes that will ultimately instil a culture conducive to safe care.
Read MoreRecognizing the tremendous opportunity to achieve safer, higher quality, more efficient, coordinated and patient-partnered healthcare, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) are jointly pursing an amalgamation that will create a single quality and safety organization with an expanded capacity to improve healthcare for everyone in Canada.
The Canadian Patient Safety Institute and CFHI have complementary mandates and goals as pan-Canadian quality and safety organizations, including shared stakeholders. The amalgamated organization will build on our collective responsiveness to the needs of federal, provincial, and territorial governments; patients, families, and communities; and valued health system stakeholders.
As the amalgamation process unfolds, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute remains committed to maintaining its existing partnerships and partnership agreements. Together, our organizations can achieve even greater improvements in patient safety and help shape the future of healthcare in Canada.
In many ways, the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic brought our world to a stop. At the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, we took our work home and re-evaluated our programs to determine what could be repositioned to redirect our best efforts. The Canadian Patient Safety Institute’s Management and staff have been regularly assessing the environment and directives in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this changing healthcare landscape brought on by the pandemic, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute has collaborated with other Pan Canadian Healthcare Organizations and has partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), CFHI, Health Standards Organization (HSO) and others (e.g. Canadian Medical Association) to collectively support the psychological safety and wellbeing of healthcare workers across Canada and to uphold our unwavering commitment to engage patients as partners in ensuring safe care for all Canadians.
As the country moves into the recovery phase of COVID-19 and prepares for subsequent waves, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute has re-established its specific areas of focus in response to COVID-19 from a safety science perspective. These are: 1) medication safety, 2) infection prevention and control, 3) psychological health, safety, and wellness of healthcare workers, 4) incident management, and 5) teamwork and communication (including transitions of care).
Canadian Patient Safety Institute Board of Directors
(Left to right) Back row: Jeanette Edwards, Sue Owen, Dr. Chris Hayes, Claude Allard, Dr. Ian Rongve, Avis Gray, Marcel Saulnier, Dr. Irmajean Bajnok, and Jo-Anne Cecchetto. Front row: L. Martina Munden, Dr. Blair O’Neill , Ronald Guse (Chair), Chris Power (CEO), Dr. Brian Wheelock, and Hélène Vaillancourt. Missing from the photo: Allison Costello and Dean Skrepnek
Ronald Guse, Board Chair
Canadian Patient Safety Institute
Nothing compares to the power of the patient voice. It is at the core of everything we do at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. The patient voice informs every program we develop. Every Canadian Patient Safety Institute Board meeting opens with a patient story that sets the tone for our discussions. In drawing attention to the crisis of healthcare harm, a single patient’s voice rallies support like stark graphs or statistics never could.
Preventable patient harm is the third leading cause of death in Canada. If we do nothing, 1.2 million people will die from preventable patient harm in the next 30 years. But, don’t take my word for it: one in three people has been affected by harm done within our healthcare system. Ask your friends, your family, your neighbour, and you will hear the same stories we do.
However, the majority of the public still seems unaware that the problem exists. Patient harm remains a silent epidemic.
Over the past 15 years, many of our projects have been directed toward healthcare providers and leaders. This year, the #ConquerSilence campaign was launched to bring awareness of patient harm to the attention of the public. We want them to know how healthcare harm affects them personally. We want everyone to raise his or her voice against the silence that kills 28,000 of us every year.
Our vision at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute is that Canada has the safest healthcare system in the world. We are not there yet. Even as our systems are strained by the coronavirus pandemic, even as our heroic healthcare workers strive mightily to provide the safest care, even as we raise our voices to celebrate the systems that we have … we know we can do better.
Recognizing a tremendous opportunity to achieve safer, higher quality and more coordinated patient-partnered healthcare, we announced we are pursuing an amalgamation with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. We will form a single quality and safety national organization with an expanded capacity to improve healthcare for everyone in Canada. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of effective health systems with a strong focus on quality and safety improvement. Forming the new national organization, with an expanded capacity to support resilient health systems, is even more relevant today than when we embarked on this journey.
It has been my pleasure to serve as Board Chair for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute over the past year. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Chris Power and the excellent and very capable team at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute for their dedication and commitment to advancing patient safety as an essential component to strengthening healthcare systems and saving lives. In addition, Canadian Patient Safety Institute staff have played a key role as we work towards the amalgamation of two national patient-centered organizations.
Ronald Guse, Board Chair
Canadian Patient Safety Institute
Chris Power, CEO
Canadian Patient Safety Institute
As CEO, crafting a message for the Annual Report is always an opportunity for reflection. This year’s Report, however, is something special for me.
I have a chance to look back on over a decade of progress in patient safety. An entire issue of Healthcare Quarterly was published to cover the National Patient Safety Consortium’s impact. We showed how our collaboration with partners across the healthcare system and around the world resulted in measurable improvements across the country.
I look back over my own tenure at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. When I started five years ago, we developed PATIENT SAFETY RIGHT NOW! This fierce call to action was built on the pillars of Demonstrating What Works in patient safety and Strengthening Commitment to our goal. We promised to lead the way.
Over the past two years, our Safety Improvement Project coaches have demonstrated what works in measurement and monitoring, enhanced surgical outcomes, teamwork and communication, and medication safety. Graduating teams are strengthening commitment within healthcare systems across the country by spreading their new knowledge. Many of the foundational patient safety and patient engagement frameworks and resources developed over the past few years are key contributors to sustained patient safety improvement.
And finally, I consider the exciting efforts made this year to move us towards our vision of the safest healthcare in the world.
This year has had its significant challenges as well. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect of our efforts. However, with our strong network of partner organizations and our work in infection prevention and control, as well as in patient engagement, we have been using our platform to reinforce the importance of patient safety in safe care.
We also announced we are pursuing an amalgamation with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. We know the time is right for forming a new organization with an expanded capacity to support resilient health systems.
On behalf of all of us at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, thank you for your ongoing support and for your own work in ensuring that every patient is safe.
Chris Power, CEO
Canadian Patient Safety Institute
Our five-year strategic plan, PATIENT SAFETY RIGHT NOW, created a new direction that will help lead system strategies to ensure safe healthcare by demonstrating what works and strengthening commitment. Our strategy employs both “push” and “pull” dimensions. The “push” focuses on system change, while the “pull” raises the profile of patient safety, sets targets, secures greater commitment from everyone, empowers patients as change agents, and promotes transparency and reporting.
Read MoreAs the Canadian Patient Safety Institute prepared to launch its Safety Improvement Projects, a new design and delivery model was developed. Taking a nuanced approach to safety improvement has been an exciting experience. The Canadian Patient Safety Institute has been evaluating the benefits of this new approach that integrates principles of quality improvement blended with knowledge translation and implementation science. Each Safety Improvement Project committed to assembling evidence on what works in monitoring the presence of safety, managing medication safety at transitions, enhancing recovery after surgery, and facilitating teamwork and communication, with demonstrated impact on patient outcomes of reducing harm and improving patient safety. These projects follow a rigorous evaluation process to ensure the evidence can bridge the gaps that currently exist, and hence, improve patient safety outcomes in Canada.
Read MoreThe Canadian Patient Safety Institute uses the media, social media platforms, and campaigns to increase the public’s understanding of patient safety. A new public engagement campaign was launched to increase the profile of patient safety so that greater awareness can lead to behaviour change among the public, patients, providers, and leaders. The Conquer Silence campaign aims to initiate conversations about the patient safety crisis and strengthen commitment to reduce preventable patient harm across Canada.
Read MoreThe Canadian Patient Safety Institute strengthens commitment for patient safety by working with patients, governments, regulators, educators, professional groups, and other partners to promote individual, organizational and health system accountabilities for safer care through policy, legislation, regulation, and accreditation. The Strengthening Commitment for Improvement Together: A Policy Framework for Patient Safety was created to stimulate conversation and action on legislation, regulations, standards, organizational policies, and public engagement. Global Patient Safety Alerts provides the evidence and analysis to promote patient safety reporting, learning, and sharing.
Read MoreThrough strategic alliances and networks of patients, governments, industry and others, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute strives to establish national alignment and pan-Canadian commitments to solve patient safety challenges. Patients for Patient Safety Canada (the patient-led program of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute) is recognized by the World Health Organization as a global leader in patient engagement. In partnership with patients, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute is advancing patient safety improvements at all system levels.
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