Welcome!  The Effective Governance for Quality and Patient Safety Toolkit is intended to be a resource for healthcare board members and senior leaders, and leverages the commissioned research led by Dr. G. Ross Baker (2010), “Effective Governance for Quality and Patient Safety in Canadian Healthcare Organizations”, which identified a number of key elements or ‘drivers’ that enable boards to fulfill their responsibilities for quality and patient safety.

Together, these drivers support the execution of effective governance for quality and patient safety, and as such are interdependent and build upon each other.

The resources in this toolkit are organized around each of the key drivers and include:

PRINCIPLES of each of the drivers
TOOLS and recommended reading
STORIES and examples from healthcare organizations

• Governance Skills and Role
• Knowledge of Quality and Patient Safety
• Measurement of Quality and Patient Safety
• Information on Quality and Patient Safety for the Board
• Relationships Between Board, Senior Leadership and Medical Staff Leadership
• Creating and Executing a Quality and Safety Plan
• Assess and Improve Quality and Patient Safety Culture
• Executing Effective Governance for Quality and Patient Safety

Consistent with the dynamic nature of healthcare and the increasing research focus on leadership for quality and patient safety, emerging evidence and examples may influence future adaptation of the toolkit.

 This symbol, used throughout the toolkit, denotes Canadian references and examples.

This toolkit is intended to provide healthcare board members, senior executives and physician leaders across Canada with an understanding of the tools available to support organizational efforts in improving quality and patient safety.