​​Academic faculty, clinical educators, leaders, policy makers, accrediting, certifying and regulatory bodies, Patients for Patient Safety Canada, 54 participants in all, attended the roundtable on January 20th. The event had 3 ambitious goals:

• Making patient safety education a priority, across the continuum of learning from novice to continuing professional development, through the development of a national Patient Safety Education Action Plan; 
•  Aligning the action items from the education roundtable to the larger goals of the national Patient Safety Consortium and the new Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan;
• Developing a shared purpose for the creation of a National Patient Safety Education Network.

The energy in the room was obvious with many viewpoints coming from a diverse group of people with different perspectives; it made for a creative and very exciting day. There was a sense of collaboration and commitment to increase education in patient safety and quality improvement in Canada. Participants had an opportunity to vote to prioritize the action items that will eventually form the national Patient Safety Education Action Plan.  Participants were also keen that concrete action items needed to be identified, and that the momentum from the day be maintained and to “not wait too long.” In addition, a portion of the agenda was devoted to imagining the look and feel of a Patient Safety Education Network.  Very creative imagery was used to denote support for a vibrant network, and in describing the elements that would drive its continued success.  In summary, participants in their evaluations voiced their commitment to a future education action plan, and thought the work done at the Patient Safety Education Roundtable was a great start to a topic that is complex and complicated. 

“I loved the day,” said Deborah Tregunno, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Queens University. “It was full of contentious ideas and there was lots of goodwill to keep things going.”