Canadian Patient Safety Week – Oct. 28 – Nov. 3, 2024
What comes to mind when you think about health care harm?
Let’s broaden our understanding of safety in health care, together.
This year’s national theme is about recognizing and reducing all forms of health-care harm, to create safety for everyone.
Recent data shows that in 2022-2023, one in 17 hospital stays in Canada involved at least one harmful event.
In the past, patient safety efforts have been focused on potentially preventable physical harm. But healthcare harm can come in other forms, such as psychological, spiritual and social harm. The person who has experienced the harm is the best one to define and describe it. Learn more about Healthcare Excellence Canada’s theme of broadening our understanding of harm.
Everyone is responsible for safety in our healthcare system. This week, let’s explore how healthcare harm is happening by starting the conversation, and taking action.
Our action is that we are hosting a virtual safety conversation about harm, and also launching our Provincial Patient Safety Learning page this week!
What other actions can you take? Examples include learning more about trauma informed care, Truth and Reconciliation, or identifying personal actions you can take to create safe environments and reduce risks.
Win Prizes with our Virtual Safety Conversations Survey
Fill out our Virtual Safety Conversations survey and be entered to win a $20 gift card. The survey is open to staff, patients and the general public, and closes Nov. 3, 2024.
Safety Huddle Tool
Download our Safety Huddle Tool to learn how you can start encouraging your team to think about talk about health-care harm and patient safety.
Videos
Events
Resources
General Resources
- Broadening our understanding of healthcare harm – Activity Card
- It’s Safe to Ask Posters, Brochures
- It’s Safe to Ask Medication Card
- The Emergency Response Information Kit (E.R.I.K.)®
- The Patient/Resident/Client Advocate Agreement / French
- It’s Safe to Ask- Medical Test Follow Up Brochure
- A Guide to a Critical Incident and Disclosure: Information for Patients and Families
- Patient Safety Events and Disclosure: Information for Healthcare Providers
- The Apology Act Information Sheet
Healthcare Excellence Canada Resources
Please visit Healthcare Excellence Canada’s website for a full listing of their Canadian Patient Safety Week activities at healthcareexcellence.ca. This year’s Canadian Patient Week theme is about recognizing and reducing all forms of health care harm, to create safety for everyone.
Shared Community Resources
When colleagues, patients and the community feel safe and respected, it improves quality of care, experience, and, ultimately, patient outcome. New Shared Community resources to support creating a health-care environment that is free of judgement, equally safe and inclusive are available here.
If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Required Organizational Practice (ROP) Posters – Safety Practices for Staff
Health-care organizations aim to have safety practices in place which meet or exceed Health Standards Organization (HSO’s) requirements. Accreditation Canada assesses healthcare organizations on how well they meet HSO’s Standards & Required Organizational Practices (ROPs).
Posters have been created, which include information on safety practices, that are linked to ROPs found in HSO’s clinical standards.
These posters can be utilized to promote awareness around safety practices. Use these resources to engage and support your team on their quality and safety improvement efforts.
Contact Us
Do you have questions or suggestions for patient safety? Contact us at [email protected].