Committee to bridge patient safety knowledge gap in pre-hospital care
CPSI and EMSCC partner to sound the call for inter-disciplinary membership
Monday June 9, 2008 -- Jason Thompson
In an effort to address a significant gap in the understanding of patient safety issues in the pre-hospital sector, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) in partnership with the Emergency Medical Services Chiefs of Canada (EMSCC), is looking for members to join a patient safety in pre-hospital care advisory committee.

Sandi Kossey, a project manager with CPSI, says the pre-hospital care advisory committee will help define the scope and scale of pre-hospital care and work towards a series of recommendations to raise awareness of the issues.

By identifying what information is available and what knowledge gaps exist, Kossey says the work of the committee will help guide the implementation of future interventions and patient safety research.

“It hasn’t been defined or even looked at,” Kossey says of patient safety in the pre-hospital care setting.

“There is a wealth of literature looking at staff safety of EMS and paramedic providers from an occupational health and safety context but there is also that same risk of injury or harm to the patient when they are being transported to the hospital as well.”

Healthcare professionals from across Canada, including patient safety and pre-hospital care researchers and decision-makers, are therefore invited to submit an application to serve on the committee.

“We’re going to be looking at the applications as a whole to ensure we have a broad, diverse mix of individuals but also very pan-Canadian,” Kossey says.

The deadline for submission is June 15, 2008. For submission details and a copy of the call for membership, click here.

For more information, contact Kossey at skossey(at)cpsi-icsp.ca.

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