About half of Canada's health care organizations have enrolled in a patient safety campaign aimed at reducing the number of adverse-event related deaths and injuries in hospitals.
Launched on June 28,the Canadian Institute for Patient Safety's Safer Healthcare Now! (www.saferhealthcarenow.ca) campaign has already enrolled 95 health care institutions and is supported by 37 health-related organizations.
The campaign was created in response to the Canadian Adverse Events Study, led by Dr. Ross Baker and Dr. Peter Norton (CMAJ 2004;170:1678-86). It found that 1 in 13 Canadian patients was harmed during a hospital stay and an estimated 9250 to 23 750 Canadians die annually after a preventable adverse event in an acute-care hospital. Within the study sample, 7.5% of patients admitted to hospital in 2000 experienced an adverse event; about 37% of these were judged to be “highly preventable.” Internationally, the incidence of adverse events ranges from 1.9% to 16.6% of annual hospital admissions.
The campaign provides interactive tools to help patient-care teams across Canada implement 1 or more of 6 targeted strategies to reduce adverse events. “It's bold. It's an important first step,” says Baker, a health policy professor at the University of Toronto.
The 6 strategies are:
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Deploy a rapid response team at the first sign a patient is getting worse.
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Prevent avoidable deaths from heart attacks by delivering reliable, evidence-based care.
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Prevent adverse drug events by double-checking medications with the patient, on their charts and in databases.
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Prevent central line-associated bloodstream infection through a series of evidence-based interventions.
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Prevent surgical site infection by implemented the “SSI bundle” in all surgical patients.
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Prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia by following a series of steps known as the “Ventilator Bundle.”
These evidence-based strategies can lead to reduced mortality and adverse events, says Phil Hassen, Institute CEO and campaign chair. The institute also provides tools to track outcomes and measure results through to December 2006.
Baker says the critical issue is how hospitals, which are already stressed in terms of capacity and resources — can implement these changes.
“The success of the plan hinges on providing the back-up expertise to the front-line teams,” he adds. “To provide assistance in answering questions and help in carrying out the changes in terms of documenting the work and reporting results.”
Hassen and Baker say it is too early to estimate the extent to which the plan will reduce adverse events.