Patient Safety for Health-Care Providers

Shifting to a positive workplace culture is linked to increased patient satisfaction and safety, and has benefits to health care providers, teams, and organizations.

• Transparency, Compassion, and Truth in Medical Errors: Leilani Schweitzer at TEDx University of Nevada
• Medical Error: A Case Based Approach to Apology and Disclosure Video – Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Note: 9:50-14:17 of the video is an example of “what to do”
• Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) Module 5 – Staff perspective
• Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) Module 7 – Patient perspective
• Patient Safety Culture “Bundle” for CEOs/Senior Leaders (Healthcare Excellence Canada)
• Just Culture (Alberta)
• Improve Culture (BC)

Patient Safety Events and Disclosure:  Information for Healthcare Providers
This guide provides patient safety event and disclosure information for health-care providers.

The Apology Act Information Sheet
Health-care professionals have an obligation to disclose to patients/clients/residents/families when an unintended event has happened. This information sheet provides information about Manitoba’s Apology Act.

Connect with Patient Safety

Email the patient safety team at [email protected].

 Falls are the most commonly reported patient safety incidents in Manitoba (2024). A number of fall prevention resources for health-care providers, originally developed by the WRHA, were adopted by a Provincial Joint Management Committee and co-branded with Manitoba Health. The tools and resources are available at:  https://preventfalls.ca/professionals/resources-and-tools/ 

The Fall Prevention Month website offers resources to help Canadian organizations and professionals promote fall prevention. 

Additional Resources:

• Fall in Seniors – Parachute
• Falls in Children – Parachute
• LOOP Fall Prevention Community of Practice Webinars (available in English & French)
• Canadian Fall Prevention Curriculum
• Government of Canada: You CAN Prevent Falls!

Falls Prevention: Accreditation Canada Required Organizational Practices

• Falls Prevention Poster

Patients are encouraged to ask questions about any medications they are prescribed. These resources can help patients have a conversation about their current prescriptions:

• Shared Health Medication Safety
• It’s Safe to Ask Medication Card
• Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada)
  • ISMP Events & Education Calendar
• DO NOT USE – dangerous abbreviations, symbols and dose designations pocket card
  • DO NOT USE poster
• Strengthening Medication Safety in Long-Term Care

Patient Safety Learning compiles Patient Safety Alerts, Learning Advisories, Safer Practice Notifications, and other information as part of our efforts to recognize and learn from health-care harm.

• Institute for Healthcare Improvement National Steering Committee for Patient Safety
  • Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety (2020)
  • Self-Assessment Tool: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety (2020)
  • Implementation Resource Guide: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety (2020)
• A Guide to Patient Safety Improvement (HEC) (2020)
• Rethinking Patient Safety Discussion Guide (HEC, 2023)
• Measuring Patient Harm in Canadian Hospitals (2016) reveals that in 2014–2015, Canadian patients experience preventable harm in 1 of every 18 hospital stays.  Resources are available to improve safety and reduce the occurrence of harm (CIHI).
• Manitoba Patient Safety Framework (2015) includes a vision for a safe, high-quality health care system in Manitoba, and includes a five-year strategic plan to guide patient safety improvements.

International

Patient safety continues to be a worldwide healthcare priority. Studies and initiatives from around the world include:

• Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030: Towards Zero Patient Harm in Health Care First Draft by WHO (2020)
• A Framework for Safe, Reliable, and Effective Care (2017) A new White Paper by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, this Framework provides key strategic, clinical, and operational components to create a “system of safety”, not just a collection of stand-alone safety improvement projects (IHI)
• Patient Safety: Making Health Care Safer (WHO) (2017) – A summary of the World Health Organization’s work and vision on patient safety.
• Healthcare Quality and Outcomes (OECD)
• Patient Safety 2030 (2017) – Recommendations, strategies, and tools to guide the next 15 years of patient safety.
• Global Ministerial Summits on Patient Safety
• Scottish Improvement Journey: A nationwide approach to improvement (2018)
• Free from Harm: Accelerating Patient Safety Improvement Fifteen Years after To Err is Human (2015)

Please note: these links are provided for informational purposes only. Site content accessed via these links is the sole responsibility of the website owners and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement.

On Dec. 16, The Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa’s Law) came into effect in Canada. The law introduces the requirement for mandatory reporting of serious adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents by hospitals.

The law improves Health Canada’s ability to:

• collect safety information;
• take appropriate action (such as a label change or a product recall) when a serious health risk is identified; and
• increase transparency (by sharing more information).

Who is required to report?

The requirement for mandatory reporting applies to all hospitals.

• The requirement also applies to outpatient clinics if they are legally part of the hospital.
• Health-care institutions that are not defined as hospitals, such as private clinics or long-term care facilities (e.g. nursing homes), continue to be encouraged to report on a voluntary basis.

For more information about Vanessa’s Law, visit Healthcare Excellence Canada.