Shared Health Health Providers logo

Refreshing RL Safety Event Forms

RL Refresh.

The RL patient safety reporting system is a quality improvement tool used to gather event details that are analyzed and trended. RL is a safe space to report a near miss or an event that resulted in harm to people using our healthcare services.

The information on this page will outline the changes being implemented to the forms, the guiding principles followed for refreshing the system, and the details collected about patient safety incidents. 

Guiding Principles on Form Revisions

  • Data collected must meet all reporting requirements
  • Data collected reflects accreditation’s patient safety practices
  • Will be standardized across the province
  • Easy for employees to use
    • No blame/judgement approach
    • Simplify and limit the drop-down pick lists
    • Make all lists relevant to the safety incident being reported
  • Collect details for the review of the patient safety incident

Approach

  • Health Authorities identified content experts to join working groups to revise/edit the submission forms using the above guiding principles.
  • We compared current forms from all Health Authorities and the information gathered in safety incident reporting.
  • Once working groups completed the work, an RL Advisory Committee and a Steering Committee reviewed and approved form edits/revisions.
  • Approved changes go through RL support for testing and implementation.

Anticipated Benefits

  • Easier to use forms with logical drop-down options that should reduce how many details staff have to type in narrative boxes.
  • Provide the health systems with data that is easier to understand.
  • Increase in patient safety event reporting that contributes to quality improvement actions. This leads to safer care for Manitobans. 

Changes to All Patient Safety Forms

There are a handful of approved changes coming to RL that impact all forms. You will notice these changes as you submit new Incidents into RL. These changes are effective April 22, 2025.

Changes to Existing Form Fields

  • We are aligning the language we use in RL to align with National and International Patient Safety Standards.
  • The term “Occurrence” will be replaced with “Incident” to describe or reference patient safety events.   Patient safety incident language aligns with National and International standards.

What Fields in RL Are Being Renamed?

  • The “MRN/Chart #” field has been renamed to be more inclusive of other patient identifiers. The new field name is “MRN/Chart #/CR#/PCR Number”.
  • “Title” has been renamed to “Title/Position”
  • “Do you believe this is a Critical Incident” has been renamed to “Do you believe this should be reviewed as a potential Critical Incident?”

What Fields in RL Are Being Moved?

  • “How was event discovered?” has been moved to a different section of the form. It can now be found after the “Entered Date” field.
  • “Your Suggestions for Prevention” has been moved to the Details of Event section of the form.

What Fields Are Now Mandatory *?

“Date of Birth” (DOB) when “Type of Person Affected” is one of the following:

  • Client
  • Inpatient
  • Out-Patient
  • Resident

Why Did we Make DOB Mandatory? 

It’s information that is usually known and helps us to categorize patient safety data in a meaningful way. For example, is a certain age group more likely to experience a type of safety event in a specific clinical environment?

What if I Don’t Know the DOB?

This could occur, and the system will allow us to enter a standard date when DOB is unknown. The system will provide instructions on what to enter.

What Fields Did we Eliminate?

To simplify and support patient safety incident reporting, the working group was asked to reflect on what details are essential for quality improvement. Our goal was to collect only the necessary information, as the health record remains the formal spot for documentation of the incident. 

The following fields were eliminated on all forms:

  • Current Admission Date
  • Likelihood of Recurrence
  • Classification of Party
  • Entered Date
  • Did the event require an unplanned or extended hospitalization?
  • Did the event result from the individual’s underlying health condition?
  • Was the event a risk inherent in providing health services?