Fraser Health Launches Keeping Patients Safe

Submitted. Fraser Health is pleased to be launching a new initiative, called Keeping Patients Safe, to discover innovative solutions to the safety challenges such as medication errors, hospital acquired infections, and falls that often affect patients in hospital. The goal of Keeping Patients Safe is to inspire a unique approach to support improved partnerships between Fraser Health staff, physicians, patients and their families, to prevent and mitigate the most common risks associated with hospital stays.

Keeping Patients Safe builds upon Fraser Health’s ongoing strategy to promote a culture of safety in its care facilities. Through public engagement and internal dialogue, this initiative will provide an opportunity for the health authority to build upon the safety solutions it already has in place, and explore new approaches to engage patients, families and health care providers in the conversation about staying safe in the hospital.

“Quality care starts with safe care,” said Fraser Health President & CEO, Dr. Nigel Murray. “We are committed to ensuring our patients are informed of the hazards that exist in hospitals, educated on how to help prevent them, and empowered to communicate their concerns to their health care providers. Likewise, it is crucial that our staff have the tools and support they need to speak up about safety concerns. We are keen to understand both patient and staff perspectives, so we can learn and grow from their experiences.”

Over the next few months, Fraser Health leaders, staff, and members of the public will collaborate with the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. This healthcare research centre collaborates with industry and healthcare organizations, and helps solve the complex social challenges they face by using solution-focused, human-centred research methodologies. Through a series of co-creation sessions and brainstorming workshops, qualitative data will be generated and applied to design, develop and integrate innovative tools and systems that will facilitate new behaviours and meaningful conversations between care teams and patients about safety. The public co-creation session will be held tonight, December 3rd.

“I am personally committed, and very excited about this unique approach to enhancing safety in our care facilities,” said Dr. Murray. “I believe that the outcome will be safer environments for our patients and their families and a more positive care experience for both patients and staff.”

It is anticipated that Emily Carr’s Health Design Lab will present their first round of design options to Fraser Health in early 2014. Once design options are developed, Fraser Health will select the ‘solutions’ it will seek to pilot and evaluate within its health care facilities.

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