Updates

In 2004, a publication helped establish patient safety as a healthcare priority in Canada. More than 20 years later, with considerable investments in improving safety in healthcare, are patient safety efforts having the desired impact? Study co-author and patient safety researcher Ross Baker reflects on Canada’s progress and what still needs to change to protect patients and healthcare workers from harm.

For Jackie DeCoteau-Gill, offering someone safety at end-of-life is what is owed to each of us as humans. Supporting people who are going to the spirit world is just as important as supporting birthing mothers, and she’s providing that support.

Michelle Grant's experience navigating care across the Yukon and British Columbia holds important lessons for healthcare providers and system leaders about safer care. Drawing on her experience as a patient and patient partner, Michelle shares why believing patients, having a trusted presence and creating space for patient voices can make a difference.

For First Nations people – who have long experienced inequitable and harmful care – the expectation of safer care may feel a long way off. Sonia Isaac-Mann, President and CEO of the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, shares examples of culturally safer care at the system and community levels, and what she believes will help turn those bright lights into a glow that covers every part of the country.

Engagement-capable environments, cultural safety, patient safety and health equity can help us see care from different perspectives and deepen our understanding of what shapes safer care.

To inform its legislative reforms, the Government of New Brunswick undertook an extensive consultation over four years. During this time, they reached out to experts and partners within the province and across the country to learn from proven safety and privacy practices. Quality of care, patient safety and healthcare safety perspectives were also considered to ensure the new policy direction matched national standards.

For Rochelle Currie, a patient safety scorecard that shows a lot of yellow – and even maybe a little red – can be a welcome and refreshing sight. You might think it’s a surprising perspective from someone accountable for quality and patient safety across an entire province. Yet Currie knows from experience that the journey to safer care truly begins when organizations are willing to get curious about what’s really happening.

Every year, World Patient Safety Day provides an important opportunity to recognize patient safety as a global health priority and reflect on what each of us can do to make care safer.

At Riverview Health Centre, curiosity is part of the culture. Every question is an opportunity to learn something new and consider what could be done differently. That mindset keeps improvement moving - and shows how safer, more person-centred care is shaped in everyday moments.