Refocusing on patient safety (Healthcare Quarterly, April 2024)

Summary

Patient safety provides an important foundation for high-quality care. Research in Canada and elsewhere has identified substantial levels of harm in hospitals and other settings; these results spurred the development and spread of safety practices, along with strategies to strengthen organizational training, incident reporting and analysis and a host of resources intended to reduce the burden of harm. Yet, despite these efforts, 20 years after the publication of the Canadian Adverse Event study and other studies, many leaders believe progress in patient safety has stalled. Human resource issues dominate current strategic plans, but these issues need to be linked to renewed efforts to assure safer care.