The Canadian Patient Safety Institute and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement recently amalgamated. CEO of CPSI Chris Power retired, and CFHI CEO Jennifer Zelmer was named President and CEO for the newly amalgamated organization. In this monthly blog, Jennifer shares her thoughts about this month's Digital Magazine topic.
Across the country, many regions are facing another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a tough time - one that is forcing all of us to call on our own resilience, as well as that of our communities, organizations, and healthcare systems. Our ability to adapt to change is being tested.
We are grateful to those working to ensure the health of everyone in Canada and globally and wish to recognize the innovative ways that healthcare systems and healthcare workers are responding to the needs of the people they serve. In turn, we are working hard to support their efforts, building on hard-won lessons from the pandemic.
Safety in long-term care has emerged as an important issue. To respond, we launched LTC+ Acting on Pandemic Learning Together, which is already supporting hundreds of long-term care and retirement homes as they strengthen their pandemic preparedness and response. We welcome others to join, develop an action plan, and access resources and tools, coaching, and a nationwide community of practice. Teams that join before December 18 can receive up to $10,000 to accelerate implementation of six promising practices.
Also upcoming is policy guidance to support the safe reintegration of essential care partners into healthcare facilities during a pandemic, developed in partnership with patients, families, caregivers, policy makers, administrators, and healthcare providers. This comprehensive approach balances risks, while embodying the principles of patient- and family-centred and partnered care. We hosted a webinar to preview the guidance and will be publishing the report next week.
During the pandemic and beyond, we also need to continue to work on a broad range of patient safety challenges. We were delighted to engage with so many committed to doing so during the recent Canadian Patient Safety Week (CPSW). Over the course of the week, our social media engagement and public service announcements reached millions of people with the #ConquerSilence campaign and how to keep ourselves safe in #VirtualCare, along with the webinar "What does ideal virtual care look like?"
During the Safety Improvement Projects Closing Congress that week, teams from across the country met to share their successes and collaborate as they connected with experts in knowledge translation, quality improvement, patient engagement, and resiliency. I invite you to watch the highlights video to find out what all the buzz was about, and reach out to learn about the 18-month projects.
And the week ended with a successful Canadian Quality and Patient Safety Framework launch, in conjunction with our partners at Health Standards Organization. Endorsed by the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Federal Minister for Health, the Framework offers a shared focus on 5 enduring goals: people-centred, safe, accessible, appropriate, and integrated care.
Finally, I want to share a bit about the progress we have been making with the amalgamation of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of health systems with a strong focus on quality and safety improvement. Creating a single quality and safety organization with an expanded capacity to improve healthcare for everyone in Canada seems even more relevant now than when we first embarked on this journey.
We began CPSW by announcing our new Board, my own appointment as CEO and President, and our Senior Leadership Team. We remain committed to completing our current plans and programs while engaging with stakeholders to develop our new strategy and plan for next year.
The commitment to partnerships that was central to both CPSI and CFHI will continue into the new organization. That includes partnering with patients, families, and caregivers, as well as being guided by the perspectives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in enhancing cultural safety in health systems.
We are looking forward to introducing our new organization to you in the upcoming months, along with exploring with you the ways that we can partner to improve healthcare quality and patient safety.
Take care, be well, and stay safe,
Jennifer Zelmer
