The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and Queen’s University School of Nursing and Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Faculty of Health Science joined together to offer the Patient Safety Education Program (PSEP – Canada ) Become a Patient Safety Trainer conference at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in January 2012.
The PSEP-Canada conference-based education program uses a curriculum-driven approach. The adaptable curriculum has been built to educate participants on both patient safety and quality content and how to disseminate it. This train-the-training team approach is grounded in adult learning theory and embedded in social structures to facilitate behaviour change.
“For the first time, we offered a classroom to practice learning event where academics who are expert in this content interfaced with clinical teams from local healthcare organizations,” says Abigail Hain, Acting Director of Education for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. Participants included 19 representatives from five hospitals and 28 faculty members from Medicine, Nursing, Health Sciences and Rehabilitation at Queen’s University.
“I do feel we now have a critical mass in the university and in our Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) to make patient safety initiatives happen and become part of everyday business,” says Jennifer Medves, Director School of Nursing and Vice-Dean Health Services at Queen’s University. “The PSEP – Canada Conference is a first step to develop healthcare professionals for the future who understand the complexity of patient safety and become advocates for quality care that keeps the safety of patients central to our care.”
Dr. Charles T. Low, an Anesthetist at Brockville General Hospital attended the conference and was inspired by the two and a half day program. “I’m very energized and can’t stop thinking about it,” says Dr. Low. “... I am so much closer to being able to help guide others back at home in a positive direction.”
Dr. David Goldstein, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery at Queen’s University-Kingston General Hospital says the program will help save Canadian lives: “We are now moving forward to use this experience to guide curriculum design for student health professionals, as well as those at the sharp end.”
The PSEP – Canada curriculum and dissemination method, originally developed by Northwestern University by American and International patient safety experts, has undergone extensive customization by Canadian safety experts for the Canadian healthcare provider audience. For more information or to schedule a conference in your area, visit www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca, or send an email to psepcanada@cpsi-icsp.ca