This year, I have discussed our new public engagement
campaigns several times since our mandate at the Canadian Patient Safety
Institute is evolving. We continue to research and supply healthcare
organizations with effective patient safety tools; we still encourage strong
patient safety policy for leaders; and now we also focus on connecting with the
public and patients about this silent epidemic – and what we can all do to keep
ourselves safe.
We have had some wonderful successes in our efforts to connect.
Over the past few months, we have organized four round table meetings with
provincial Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Health. Hosted by members of
Patients for Patient Safety Canada, we have meet in Winnipeg, St. John’s,
Halifax and Fredericton to give local patient partners the opportunity to tell
their stories of harm and to ask that provincial governments commit to making
care safer.
Safer care has certainly caught the public’s attention. On
November 6, the Canadian Institute for Health Information released a biannual comparison
of healthcare performance among over 30 first-world nations. Compared with
other countries, Canada does a good job of documenting, reporting, and acting
on patient safety issues. However, we still have much room for improvement,
since the report stated that not only are patients twice as likely to experience
tears during childbirth and develop lung clots after hip and knee surgery, but that
Canada also reported the highest number of items left behind inside patients
after surgery.
In response to media requests, CPSI highlighted that the
public doesn’t know much about patient safety incidents. We called for a higher
commitment to safer care, not by placing blame, but instead by inviting
everyone concerned to learn about healthcare harm and make it a priority. We
have to work together to identify the patient safety gaps, share ways to
resolve them, and establish a patient safety culture in Canada.
The messages we shared in response to the report were
similar to those declared during this year’s Canadian Patient Safety Week. We launched
our #ConquerSilence campaign to improve communication in the healthcare system to
help reduce preventable patient harm in Canada. We engaged both new and
existing audiences, built partnerships founded on patient safety, and heard
from many people about the popularity of #ConquerSilence.
This popularity assured us that we are headed in the right
direction, as #ConquerSilence did not end with Canadian Patient Safety Week: it
is also our first long-term public engagement campaign. We built a platform
that will stand against silence and build momentum over time. We will continue
to encourage members of the public, healthcare providers, and healthcare
leaders to anonymously record and listen to stories and advice about
preventable harm at www.conquersilence.ca.
#ConquerSilence will feature different patient safety issues
throughout the year, plus offer resources to help the public and healthcare
providers battle systemic silence. The first issue we are tackling is
medication safety, featuring materials on how to speak up when issues arise
with medications. Other issues we will tackle through the campaign will include
misdiagnoses and miscommunication, traumas, infections, pressure wounds, and deteriorating
patient condition.
I am thrilled that you have joined us to keep making safe
healthcare a priority.
Questions? Comments? My inbox is open to you anytime at cpower@cpsi-icsp.ca, and you can follow
me on Twitter @ChrisPowerCPSI.
Yours in patient safety,
Chris Power