The season of giving is upon us. During the holidays, we at BCPSLS Central Office reflect on the past year and feel particularly grateful for individuals and teams across the province who give their time and effort to make health care safer for all.
2017 was a year of accomplishments for us here at Central Office and we couldn’t have done it without your partnership, feedback, and passion for patient safety.
A few highlights…
We kicked off the year with significant enhancements to summary Falls Reports, providing falls experts, leaders, and care teams with more detailed and actionable information about the types of falls reported and any resulting harm to patients.
The spring brought two new episodes of our Patient Safety Voices podcast: Canadian Patient Safety Institute CEO Chris Power shared some of her key messages for creating safe environments for Canada’s patients and families, and three patient partners from the Patient Voices Network told us why partnering with patients and families must be a key priority across our health care system.
Spring also saw us finally transition from the “old” version to the web version of the Claims module, with excellent feedback and uptake from health authority risk management teams. The update included a dashboard to enable better visibility of issues and outcomes.
Thanks to the commitment of BCPSLS leaders and representatives across the province, BCPSLS re:act was made available this summer to all BC health authorities for reporting abuse, neglect, and self-neglect of vulnerable adults, and managing these reports as required by the Adult Guardianship Act. Enhancements included new and improved forms, dashboard reports, and a To Do List to track tasks.
Fall brought two long-term projects to fruition. First, BCPSLS and Trauma Services BC announced a new provincial trauma mortality review module aimed at reducing preventable trauma-related deaths.
Second, a Medical Imaging specialty report form was launched to support better reporting and learning from patient safety events involving medical imaging procedures. Both these projects have demonstrated early successes and will continue to be refined as feedback is received.
Our fall Patient’s View Miniseries chronicled how BCPSLS Patient’s View (our patient and family reporting initiative) has spread to a variety of organizations and settings since it began on a single unit at BC Children’s Hospital in 2012.
This winter began with improvements for BCPSLS Handlers, including better protection of patient confidentiality on event records, an overdue records calculation feature, and a To Do List to help Handlers track and manage work that has been assigned to them.
We also developed summary reports to support the new provincial Violence Risk Assessment Standard that was developed earlier this year. These reports are available to designated Occupational Health & Safety staff to help inform and assist with Violence Risk Assessments within their Health Authorities.
Some new organizations were welcomed to BCPSLS this year. Staff at St. Joseph’s General Hospital transitioned to BCPSLS in preparation for their move to the new North Island Hospital Comox Valley; Correctional Health Services will now be using BCPSLS in correctional centres across BC; and BC Clinical and Support Services (BCCSS) was welcomed in its new iteration as a separate not-for-profit society.
North Island Hospital Comox Valley (photo courtesy of Island Health)
As 2017 draws to a close, we offer our gratitude to all of you who, over the last year, have worked with our “small but mighty” Central Office team toward our shared mission of fostering a culture of safety, shared learning, and continuous system improvement across the province.
Next year promises to be equally exciting and just as busy, as we look forward to celebrating the tenth anniversary of BCPSLS’s first Go Live in February 2018.
Best wishes and happy holidays to you and yours from all of us at BCPSLS Central Office!
