Public expects hospitals to become more transparent, says risk manager
Rouge Valley working on variety of patient safety initiatives
Thursday September 20, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
Better-informed patients with high expectations and literature suggesting hospitals have work to do to make healthcare safer is giving the issue of patient safety a critical focus these days.

Shirley Atkinson, manager of quality and risk management for Rouge Valley Health System, which has sites in Ajax and Scarborough, Ontario, says the hospital is working on a number of patient safety initiatives.

She says there are a variety of factors that have led to the increased focus on patient safety in Canada, including literature that suggests healthcare providers have work to do to create safer environments.

“With the increase in public awareness about healthcare comes pressure to become more transparent and with the recent announcement from (the Canadian Institute for Health Information) that each hospital’s Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio will be made public in November, hospitals are going to have to be diligent in examining their systems and processes in order to make healthcare safer for patients,” says Atkinson.

Patient safety is getting a significant focus because of initial information from the Institute of Medicine report that found medical errors are prevalent in our healthcare system and among the main causes of death in the United States, Atkinson says.

“Subsequently, the Canadian adverse events study estimated that one in 13 adult medical and surgical patients admitted to acute care hospitals in Canada in 2000 experienced an adverse event.

“Perceptions of patient safety were also examined in the 2006 Health Care in Canada Survey which shows more than half of adults surveyed believe that there were likely to experience a serious medical error while in hospital,” she adds.

Rouge Valley is currently working on a project in the medical unit of its Scarborough site. Two nurses on this unit selected identification and communication of patient safety risk factors and strategies to address these risk factors as a priority project for their late-career initiative.

“Their research and efforts resulted in several educational sessions for the eight-level nurses on patient safety as well as the shift change report sheet,” says Atkinson.

“The shift change report sheet was designed to provide communication from one shift to the next on the identified patient safety risks and the strategies that are being used to address these risks. The report provides a quick snapshot of information and strategies that is reviewed and reassessed each shift.”

Also in the area of patient safety, the hospital formed a multidisciplinary falls prevention task force on a surgical inpatient unit in December 2006 with the goal of reducing the number of falls.

“There was education for staff and the introduction of a standardized approach to falls risk assessment in order to identify patients at increased risk of falls.”  The task force developed two brochures, ‘Falls Prevention Strategies for Caregivers’ and ‘Falls Prevention’ for patients and families. “The program was piloted in January, February and March of this year with very positive results,” Atkinson notes

Back in 2003, the hospital introduced the MOREOB program, which is a continuous patient safety improvement program for physicians, midwives, nurses and others within obstetrical care units.

“Developed by The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) the MOREOB Program is a strategic and proactive approach to improve quality of healthcare for the benefit of the health care providers, the hospitals, and most importantly, for the benefit of Canadian mothers and their babies,” says Atkinson.

“It aims to eliminate the culture of blame and builds confidence in competency, improves patient safety and enhances the quality of care. It also seeks at decreasing adverse events and clinical error, providing data to support change and encouraging collaboration among all stakeholders within obstetrical care units.”