Previously on What's New

2010

Celebrating Achievements in BC: Vancouver Coastal Health

Measurement Strategies for Improving the Quality of Care: A Review of Best Practice

Upcoming Sessions in Medication Reconciliation: A Safer Healthcare Now! Virtual Interactive Series

Transparency and Public Reporting are Essential for a Safe Health Care System

Move for Life DVD now available

Celebrating Achievements in BC: Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee (GPAC)

Advancing Surgical Quality in BC

Helping Patients Help Themselves: Are Canadians with chronic conditions getting the support they need to manage their health?

Primary Care Pilot Project (Accreditation Canada)

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2009

BC Children’s Hospital wins 2009 Leadership Award for Reducing Surgical Wait Times

Patient Safety in Primary Care - Nov 20 deadline for proposals

BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Awards

Education Opportunity: Global Trigger Tool – Plotting the Course for Improvement

Building on Success: New website to share innovations across the province

Safe Surgery Saves Lives Canada Launches The Virtual Grand Rounds Series

CPSI Competitions

BCPSQC Welcomes New Staff

BC Health Quality Matrix

Enhancing Capacity and Capability for Quality Improvement

Cochrane Library Now Available Across Canada

Canada’s Forum on Patient Safety and Quality Improvement

2009 BC Patient Quality and Safety Awards

IPAC Team First in North America to Win International Infection Prevention and Control Award

The Council’s Strategic Plan

Canadian Health Information Management Association

Health Council of Canada

Evidence to Excellence (E2E)

BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Supports CPSI and WHO in "Safe Surgery Saves Lives"

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2008

Interprofessional Network of BC

Council Members Appointed

Canadian Patient Safety Week

 

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Celebrating Achievements in BC: Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) provides acute and community healthcare to 25%of BC's population. VCH has made significant improvements to the delivery of patient care including initiatives on VTE prevention, improved cardiac care, encouraging hand-washing, tissue banking and human factors. Click here to read more.

Measurement Strategies for Improving the Quality of Care: A Review of Best Practice

The BC Patient Safety & Quality Council is pleased to present a new report reviewing best practices in healthcare measurement strategies. This information is intended for those working in the health system to help inform their own quality measurement systems. Click here to read more.

Upcoming Sessions in Medication Reconciliation: A Safer Healthcare Now! Virtual Interactive Series

  • Measurement
    April 29, 2010, 1 – 3pm PDT

The sessions will be a facilitated conversation amongst teams to share what they are doing at their site, including successes, challenges, and key change ideas. Click here for more information.

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Transparency and Public Reporting are Essential for a Safe Health Care System

Dr. Lucian Leape, M.D. argues that, of the three major approaches to improving patient safety—regulation/accreditation, financial incentives, and public reporting of performance and feedback to health care providers—public reporting holds the greatest promise. Although most hospitals are still sceptical about being transparent, evidence from a few organizations that have gone public with their bad news shows that it is a win-win. First, transparency motivates caregivers to improve care. Lives are saved. In addition, openness shows that the hospital feels accountable and has nothing to hide, which increases public confidence. Transparency is an idea whose time has come and both hospitals and the public will be better off because of it.

Leape discusses the example of central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), a particularly lethal hospital-acquired complication based on data from a large number of hospitals, gathered by several sources, show wide variations in the incidence. Despite strong evidence on how to prevent the infection, most hospitals still have significant rates of CLABSIs. According to Leape, the vast majority of hospitals have not implemented the Pronovost protocol—the standard in CLABSI prevention—"because they have not made a meaningful commitment to reducing preventable injuries, much less eliminating them."

For Leape, transparency is the key to motivating hospitals to do what we know makes health care safer. Click here to read more.

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Move for Life DVD now available

The Move for Life DVD provides ideas for activities designed to help older adults add physical activity to their daily routine. The DVD, which was developed in consultation with older adults and exercise specialists, is available free of charge. To view the DVD or order a copy, please visit www.actnowbc.ca or phone the Health and Seniors Information line at 1-800-465-4911.

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Celebrating Achievements in BC: Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee (GPAC)

As a collaborative committee with representation from both the Ministry of Health Services, and the British Columbia Medical Association, GPAC has risen to the challenge of both supporting effective utilization of medical services in BC, as well as supporting adoption of clinical practice guidelines by health care providers across the province. GPAC provides practical recommendations to practitioners for effective patient care, with particular emphasis on circumstances in BC. Click here to read more.

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Advancing Surgical Quality in BC

The BC Patient Safety & Quality Council joins the efforts of groups across the province and across the country to improve quality of surgical care. There is promising work and a number of opportunities to improve the safety in surgery, including the Surgical Checklist. Click here to read more…

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Helping Patients Help Themselves: Are Canadians with chronic conditions getting the support they need to manage their health?

The Health Council of Canada is releasing the second bulletin in the Canadian Health Care Matters series for Canadians. This bulletin is based on the 2008 Canadian Survey of Experiences with Primary Health Care, which measured the quality of health care as reported by Canadian patients, including those with seven common chronic conditions. Click here to read more…

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Primary Care Pilot Project (Accreditation Canada)

Accreditation Canada has begun pilot testing its new Primary Care Services standards. Eight pilot organizations from across the country are participating. Testing is due to wrap up in early November, and the standards are expected to be implemented into the Qmentum program in 2010. The standards focus on:

              • supporting a broader approach to primary health care
              • having the right resources to deliver service
              • working together to keep clients healthy
              • providing access to health care system entry points
              • delivering and coordinating care across the life cycle
              • maintaining accessible and efficient clinical information systems
              • monitoring quality and achieving positive outcomes

 

The objectives of the pilot are to evaluate the effectiveness of the standards, test the Qmentum accreditation process with organizations involved in primary care, evaluate customized primary care priority processes, and further develop the standards based on pilot results. For more information please visit Accreditation Canada’s website, send them an email or click here (pdf-339Kb) to download the pdf.

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BC Children’s Hospital wins 2009 Leadership Award for Reducing Surgical Wait Times

The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC)/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards recognize organizations that have demonstrated outstanding leadership by taking bold steps to improve Canada, through advancements in public policy and management. The Canadian Paediatric Surgical Wait Times Project was selected based on the innovation, strategic vision, team building and effective collaboration for the benefit of children and youth across Canada. The B.C. Children's Hospital received the 2009 Gold Leadership Award in the Healthcare Category in November 2009. Warmest congratulations to those involved from the Department of Pediatric Surgery for their hard work and commitment to the success of this national project.

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Patient Safety in Primary Care

The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council (BCPSQC) have jointly identified the need to better understand the patient safety issues unique to primary care in Canada. They are now searching for a research team to conduct a literature review, interview stakeholders and work with the Pan-Canadian Advisory Group create a draft manuscript for submission to a mutually agreed upon academic journal. Click here to read more.

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BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Awards

The BC Patient Safety and Quality Council is proud to present our 2009 Awards series. Awards for Excellence in Quality and Patient Safety were given to leading quality and patient safety initiatives in each of British Columbia’s health authorities. The Leadership in Quality and Patient Safety Award recipient was selected from nominations received from across the province. Details of the initiatives and Award recipients can be found here.

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Education Opportunity: Global Trigger Tool – Plotting the Course for Improvement

The Global Trigger Tool is an easy-to-use method for accurately detecting harm and measuring adverse events over time. Education sessions are now planned to facilitate the spread of this innovation to hospitals across the province. For more information on the tool and how to attend the sessions, click here.

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Building on Success: New website to share innovations across the province

Sharing information on health care innovation is about to get easier thanks to the recently launched BC Health Innovation Registry.

The Registry is a web-based collection of innovative projects that have recently been put into practice across the province. The Registry provides an opportunity for you to submit information on innovations you have been a part of, as well as review information on other projects you may not be familiar with. Each innovation profile contains a project description, results, challenges and lessons learned, as well as the contact information of the project lead, should you wish to learn more or even try it in your area.

Innovation profiles include information on initiatives like Streaming: a redesign of the flow of patients through the emergency department with the goal of reducing patient wait times. After Streaming produced significant results at Kelowna General Hospital, staff shared information with their peers around the province and the idea began to spread to other B.C. emergency departments.

If you have been involved in a creative health care initiative that you would like to share, or if you would like to read about creative projects taking place across the province, please visit www.healthinnovation.gov.bc.ca.

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Safe Surgery Saves Lives Canada Launches The Virtual Grand Rounds Series (pdf-289Kb)

The Canadian Patient Safety Institute is pleased to introduce the Virtual Grand Rounds Series – a monthly one-hour virtual meeting (using WebEx) aiming to inform, empower, answer questions and connect teams from across the country who are working to implement the Safe Surgery Saves Lives Initiative.

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CPSI Competitions

Deadline : November 17, 2009

The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) is pleased to announce the following competitions for funding:

  • 2009 CPSI Research Competition
  • 2010 - 2011 Fellowship in Patient Safety
  • 2010 - 2011 CPSI Studentships
  • Economics of Patient Safety - coming soon!

Projects funded must have patient safety as primary focus.

For more details on current competitions click here.

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BCPSQC Welcomes New Staff

The BC Patient Safety and Quality Council is pleased to welcome a new staff member to the team! Katie Procter is joining the Council as a Quality Leader and will be responsible for the Council’s participation in the Canadian Positive Deviance (PD) project and will be working as the Improvement Advisor to the Evidence to Excellence Collaborative as well as collaborating with healthcare providers and system leaders to improve safety and quality in healthcare across BC.

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BC Health Quality Matrix

July 17, 2009


The BC Patient Safety and Quality Council’s Health Quality Network has developed a BC Health Quality Matrix designed to provide a common and shared language of quality in the province. The Matrix is intended to be used by health care delivery organizations, leaders and practitioners for strategic planning; quality improvement; measurement; and evaluation at a program, facility and system-wide level.

To view and download the BC Health Quality Matrix Click Here (pdf-382Kb).

To view and download the BC Health Quality Matrix Handbook Click Here (pdf-1,029Kb).

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Enhancing Capacity and Capability for Quality Improvement

July 17, 2009


On April 3 & 4, 2009, internationally recognized experts came together at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George to discuss one of the key attributes of highly effective health care organizations –a learning and development center or commons. Such a center or commons is a key component in becoming a learning organization. This function is a key driver of improvement in organizations that are internationally recognized for delivering effective and sustainable health services – organizations such as Care Oregon, Intermountain Health (Utah), Jönköping County (Sweden) and South Central Foundation (Alaska). Click here for more information.

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Cochrane Library Now Available Across Canada

July 16, 2009


The Cochrane Library is now available free of charge to all Canadians for a trial period ending December 31, 2009. This pilot, bringing the high quality information on health interventions to the public, is a joint initiative of the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre and the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (CHLA/ABSC) and was made possible by building on the leadership of the existing subscribers from provinces, territories and institutions across Canada. To read the full article click here.

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Canada’s Forum on Patient Safety and Quality Improvement

July 16, 2009


Electronic versions of the presentations and conference materials from the April 2009 Forum are now available.

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2009 BC Patient Quality and Safety Awards

June 23, 2009


The BC Patient Safety & Quality Council is pleased to announce its annual awards program. For full details click here.

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IPAC Team First in North America to Win International Infection Prevention and Control Award

June 1, 2009


Providence Health Care
Providence Health Care is pleased to announce that our Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPAC) has won the Oxoid Special Judges’ Award for excellence in hospital infection prevention. It is the first time such an award has been bestowed upon an infection control team in North America.

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The Council’s Strategic Plan

May 13, 2009


2009-2012 Strategic Plan
This Strategic Plan sets out the vision, strategic directions and goals for the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council (the Council) for 2009 through 2012. It represents the collective work of the Council, guided by input received from members of BC’s patient safety and quality community.

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Canadian Health Information Management Association

May 4, 2009


Royal Inland Hospital Diabetes Management Team Wins 3M Health Care Award
The RIH Diabetes Management Team has won the prestigious 3M HIM Team Quality Award. This award, which recognizes three key elements – innovation, quality and teamwork, is given to teams who have created measurable benefits in their service and/or program.

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Health Council of Canada (pdf-1,090Kb)

April 30, 2009

Teams in Action: Primary Health Care Teams for Canadians

The Health Council of Canada releases a report on primary health care teams in Canada exploring what teams look like across the country and what they mean to patients and taxpayers?

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Evidence to Excellence (E2E)

March 4, 2009

Celebrating Achievements in BC

Every month the Council recognizes the significant efforts and achievements of various health authorities and organizations working to improve the quality and safety of health care in British Columbia. This month the focus is on Evidence to Excellence (E2E) – an initiative that is achieving excellence in emergency health care for all British Columbians.

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BC Patient Safety & Quality Council Supports CPSI and WHO in "Safe Surgery Saves Lives"

January 14, 2009

Safe Surgery Saves Lives
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The BC Patient Safety & Quality Council is pleased to support the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and the World Health Organization's efforts to improve the safety of surgery in Canada and across the globe.

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Interprofessional Network of BC (pdf-192kb)

December 8, 2008

An Interview with Doug Cochrane
On December 1st Alix Arndt, Communications Consultant for In-BC, had a chance to speak with Dr. Doug Cochrane, Neurosurgeon at BC Children’s Hospital and Chair of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council.

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Council Members Appointed

October 23, 2008

Patient Safety & Quality Council Members Appointed
VICTORIA – Health Services Minister George Abbott today announced the appointment of Evelyn D. Carroll, Brian A. Stamp, John G. Taylor and Dr. Kimberly van der Woerd as members of the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council.

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Canadian Patient Safety Week


Knowledge is the Best Medicine. Ask. Talk. Listen
Canadian Patient Safety Week is an important initiative of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute as part of its national mandate to build and advance a safer healthcare system for Canadians.  Founded in 2005, this is an annual event to keep the issue of patient safety foremost in Canada.

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