Together with our partners, CPSI has identified four initial priority areas of focus for a national integrated patient safety strategy, they are:

1. medication safety
2. surgical care safety
3. infection prevention and control
4. home care safety

These initial priorities will be tested through a multi-year Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan, with patient safety education being a foundational underpinning to advancing improvement.

Action is underway in all the areas of the Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan. Read below for a highlight in each area and read the full action plans at: http://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/en/About/PatientSafetyForwardWith4/Pages/default.aspx

Home Care Safety Action Plan

Partnering with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) and the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA)) the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) is leading a virtual Improvement Collaborative on falls prevention in homecare with the aim of reducing falls and harm from falls. Five home care organizations from across Canada are participating in Wave I of the Collaborative including the Red Cross, Eastern Health Newfoundland, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Saint Elizabeth Health Care and the VHA Home Healthcare. The Collaborative runs from October 2015 to March 2016 with the following objectives:

1. Identifying outcomes for clients at risk of falls;
2. Adapting quality improvement (QI) methods for the homecare environment and increasing QI capacity in this sector;
3. Identifying resources for spread , and;
4. Engaging patients and families in falls risk assessment and prevention.

Lessons learned in Wave I will be incorporated into Wave 2 which will be on a larger scale, and is due to start Fall 2016.

Infection Prevention and Control Action Plan

To address the action item of improving infection prevention and control through the use of strategies known to improve behavior and culture, CPSI's Communication Team, along with dedicated partners, led an innovation competition to drive frontline improvement related to infection control.  The entire country rallied around hand hygiene on May 5, 2015 as 1,182 sites took part in STOP! Clean Your Hands Day. Presented in partnership between Accreditation Canada, Infection Prevention and Control Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, STOP! Clean Your Hands Day serves as a reminder for care providers, and their patients, about the importance of clean hands. The event was highlighted by the #CleanShots photo contest. Inspired by the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council, we asked healthcare providers across the country to send us their fun and creative photo featuring themselves or their colleague cleaning their hands. You can see the winners here.

Medication Safety Action Plan

Medication safety actions are progressing well with 87% of 2014-2016 actions underway and progressing towards completion. Co-Lead organizations, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada) and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), are working on an environmental scan followed by a white paper to identify all reporting systems that could provide medication incident data to a central access point for sharing and learning. An extensive literature search and online surveys have been completed and the Co-Leads are in the midst of key informant interviews with stakeholders and partners across Canada with expertise in medication incident reporting systems. Upon completion in early spring, the white paper will provide a comprehensive review of current medication incident reporting systems in Canada, gaps, and areas of overlap to consider in developing a central access point for all medication safety incident data to contribute to widespread sharing, learning and improvement efforts across Canada.

Surgical Care Action Plan

The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) and the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC) have been hard at work collaborating to enhance learning and sharing to avoid surgical harm. CMPA and HIROC have conducted a retrospective analysis of Canadian surgical harm data between 2004 and 2013. They have synthesized their findings into an information report that has been reviewed for feedback by a number of partner organizations including Accreditation Canada, Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society, Canadian Nurses Protective Society, Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Canadian Institute for Healthcare Information and Patients for Patient Safety Canada. The two page report and an associated appendix are in final stages of review. Watch for the report to be released in 2016.

Patient Safety Education Action Plan

Work on the Patient Safety Education Action Plan has begun with meetings among lead organizations. On February 11, 2016 contributing partners and lead organizations will come together in Toronto, Ontario to accelerate the momentum of the Patient Safety Education Action Plan including establishing a vision for a Patient Safety Education Network.

The lead organizations involved in the Patient Safety Education Action Plan are: The Canadian College of Health Leaders, Patients for Patient Safety Canada, SIM – One, Queens University, University of Calgary, University of Toronto, Canadian Medical Protective Association, Health Quality Council Alberta, HealthCareCAN, and Canadian Patient Safety Institute.