How do you ensure that the information you are presenting is engaging to your audience? That is the challenge that inspired Barbara Saunders, Managing Consultant of Operational Improvement and Accreditation, Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at Fraser Health in lower mainland British Columbia to sign up to become a Master Facilitator for the Patient Safety Education Program (PSEP-Canada). Barbara is one of the 23 PSEP-Canada Master Facilitator’s helping healthcare professionals become Patient Safety Trainers and guide patient safety education in their home organization.
When Barbara first learned about PSEP-Canada, Fraser Health was developing an educational framework for quality and patient safety that would include formal education, online learning and self-directed learning. “We were trying to develop a more comprehensive and effective approach as to how we were providing coaching and education, says Barbara. “The PSEP-Canada caught my eye because it focused on adult learning principles. I’ve worked in the quality and patient safety field for many years, so it was not the content of the program that was appealing, rather it was the style in which the program was being delivered and the skills that I would be able to learn to do a better job of providing an environment that would foster that learning.”
Barbara says that it took a while to realize what was different about the PSEP-Canada program. When she signed up to become a Master Facilitator, she thought she was going to learn adult learning principles in a more traditional way: “As Master Facilitators, I think all of us were a little confused at first, because we saw the curriculum being taught in a non-linear way and we didn’t at first appreciate that the impact of the program is not only content, but the purposeful manner in which it is delivered. It took us a bit of time to make sense of what was being presented to us. What we quickly came to realize was that it not about the content of the curriculum, it is about learning how to convey that to others in a way that will support them to adopt, to learn, and to apply. The curriculum provides the core content, but it is the method of acquiring that makes the PSEP-Canada program unique. It is a way of presenting any material that will enable the learner to make sense of it, to shift their attitude, to acquire new knowledge, and to practice their development of new skills.”
The PSEP-Canada program provides a comprehensive way of encouraging, assisting and supporting people to adopt and apply learning to their situation that will change behaviours, change the way healthcare services are structured and delivered, and change the outcomes that patients, families, residents, clients will experience for the better. “That whole change will shift our healthcare system to be more effective and safe,” adds Barbara. “That is what makes the PSEP-Canada program different from other educational programs. It is creating this cadre of leaders at two levels, master facilitators and trainers who are capable facilitating, coaching, mentoring, and assisting healthcare practitioners to move toward a more effective, efficient healthcare system that is truly supporting patient outcomes and a culture of safety and quality improvement.”
To learn more about the PSEP-Canada program, or to bring the program to your area, please visit the Canadian Patient Safety Institute website, or email: psepcanada@cpsi-icsp.ca.