In 2006, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) collaborated with the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) Canada and Capital Health Edmonton to prepare a background paper examining patient safety issues for Canadian home care clients. This paper, prepared by Dr. Ariella Lang and Dr. Nancy Edwards, provided an impetus for further work on home care safety and identified that there was an urgent need for patient safety research specific to home care.
Recognizing the importance of home care safety and the lack of knowledge in this area, CPSI provided a formative team grant in the spring of 2007 for the purpose of developing and supporting a team of researchers and decision-makers who could advance home care patient safety research in Canada. The hope was “to make something happen that would not otherwise occur”.