Canadian Patient Safety Week: Nov. 1-5
Good healthcare starts with good communication, which is why this year's theme for Canadian Patient Safety Week is "Ask, Listen, Talk," which promotes the importance of communication between care providers and patients and families.
At Sunnybrook we encourage our patients and families to be active partners in their care and speak up when there is a patient safety concern. Likewise, we expect our teams to speak up about safety issues to ensure we maintain an excellent and safe environment for patient care.
Through speaking up, active listening and implementing best practices, we're making an impact. We've recently achieved a number of successes, some of which are listed below:
- Supporting the Core: this initiative aims to strengthen the skills of our management team so they can further guide and support their staff in participating in meaningful quality and safety improvement work.
- Standardizing our practices: Evidence has shown that standardizing our practices reduces the risk of errors and variation. As a starting point, plans are underway to further develop standard physician order sets where appropriate.
- Venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis improvement: In partnership with Safer Healthcare Now! we are leading a national effort to increase the use of evidence-based thromboprophylaxis practices.
- System Reviews: We are leading the way by using a formal review process to identify the root causes and address system issues to prevent adverse events.
- Implementation of the Surgical Safety Checklist: This initiative aims to ensure that all critical steps are completed for every patient, all the time and helps the team prepare for potential complications or
Canadian Patient Safety Week 2010 runs from November 1-5.
Additional patient safety links
- "To err is medicine" CBC Town Hall on White Coat, Black Art (aired October 16, 2010)
- "Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) as an Accreditation Canada ROP: Knowledge and Tools for Success." This webinar will be broadcast from Sunnybrook on Thursday, November 4, at 12:00 EST
- Canadian Patient Safety Institute
