SASKATOON – In a typical year, there are less than 20 critical events in the Saskatoon Health Region where human error has played a part. On the other hand, officials said “close calls” happen quite regularly.
To combat the “close calls,” a new 90-day initiative has been launched by the health region with a focus on safety. The initiative will focus on six main areas, with a long-term goal of eliminating all “preventable harm” by 2020.
According to health officials, communication breakdowns contribute to 70 per cent of all adverse events and transparency will be the key moving forward.
“We work in a very complex system where people train separately, so I trained in medicine,” said Dr. Susan Shaw, co-lead of the safer every day team for the health region.
“I never trained alongside nurses, I never trained alongside pharmacists, but I work all around these people and we’ve never had those conversations before how do we communicate effectively, how do you be listened to and how do you make yourself feel safe, and we are new at that in healthcare.”
Officials said patients can also play a role in their own safety by knowing their health care team, the medications they take, and by speaking up when they have concerns.
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This will be the second cycle for the region. The first one was aimed at improving patient flow.
Patient flow will continue to be worked on to enhance safety.
Meaghan Craig contributed to this story
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