Have you heard the latest scoop?

PSLS is upgrading to an exciting new software called Datix Cloud IQ (DCIQ).

The new software is being used in Northern Health and Interior Health and will be coming soon to a health authority near you—if it hasn’t already!

The BCPSLS Central Office team has been preparing for this transition for a few years now. Under its leadership, BC is spearheading the largest implementation of cloud-based patient safety software in Canada.

It’s not the first time the health care community in BC has collaborated to do something impressive like this. When PSLS was first implemented, it had the greatest number of potential users of any health care software in BC.

Now that the new software is off and running, we’d like to share why we upgraded and what you can expect from the new PSLS.

Why move to the cloud?

Since it launched in 2008, PSLS has operated as a web-based system housed within BC’s health authority network. Although there have been many improvements to the software and its configuration over the years by both the software vendor and Central Office, there are limits to what it can do.

When the vendor announced its plans for DCIQ several years ago, BCPSLS Executive Director Annemarie Taylor immediately saw the potential.  

“DCIQ offers better functionality, new features, and an enhanced user experience,” says Annemarie. “The software’s suite of modules and tools are designed to support a strategic approach to reporting and learning from patient safety events.”

One of the new features is a PHN lookup, which enables users to identify a patient by their PHN. PSLS will draw the patient’s contact information from the provincial patient registry, so users no longer have to enter it manually. Identifying locations and programs is simpler, too,

Also, users will now be able to log in to PSLS, with no need to remember a username and password. PSLS will be integrated with each health authority’s email directory, so staff can log in with their work email address and the same password they use to log in to their computer.

Planning and prep

While we were awaiting essential software fixes from the vendor, we leveraged the delay to test and configure the software to better meet the needs of our two largest stakeholder groups: health care providers across BC—over 100,000 of you!—who can report safety incidents in PSLS, and the 10,000 or so handlers who are responsible for following up safety incidents reported by their teams.

To get a better understanding of stakeholder needs, we reached out to users of PSLS’s four core modules: Events (patient safety incidents), Complaints (feedback on patient care quality), re:act (adult protection), and Claims (risk management).

First, we invited incident handlers to share their experiences with the Events module in a series of virtual focus groups centered on workflow, overdue records, and other challenges. We learned a lot! And we incorporated those learnings into the new Incidents module in DCIQ, which replaces the Events module. We also shared focus group results back to handlers in this infographic.

For the other core modules, we offered virtual demonstrations and opportunities for users to try out the new software, and invited user input. Then, we incorporated as much of the input as we could, shared the changes back to users, and repeated this process until the modules were as refined as possible.

In addition to reaching out to users, we surveyed staff and leaders who subscribe to our monthly PDF summary reports to find out how well the reports were working for them. We learned that although 80% of respondents rated the monthly reports overall as good, very good, or excellent, many wanted a more interactive report into which they could drill down to get the detail they needed, when they needed it. This input helped inform how we designed the new data dashboards in DCIQ and our plans for additional analytics tools.

We also extended our engagement beyond BC’s borders to patient safety leaders across the globe to learn how DCIQ has been adopted in other jurisdictions, including New South Wales (Australia), Wales (UK), and closer to home in New Brunswick.

Go Live

2024 was a big year! On March 5, Northern Health began reporting and following up patient safety incidents in the new PSLS with Interior Health joining in on November 1. New modules for complaints (called Feedback), adult protection (called Safeguarding), and Claims were also launched.

To prepare staff for the change, information was shared in emails, digital newsletters, and on staff intranet sites, in addition to discussions and meetings. Interior Health held a roadshow during Canadian Patient Safety Week at the end of October to share resources and answer questions from staff in advance of Go Live.

“The new PSLS has streamlined the process of reporting safety events,” says Shari McKeown, Director, Patient Care Quality, Safety & Accreditation, Interior Health. “Once users get more familiar with it, we’re hoping to see an increase in reports so we can continue to learn about and improve the safety of care we provide. And we’re grateful to the BCPSLS Central Office team for the excellent support they provided to Interior Health during the transition.”

Although the new PSLS has a similar layout to the current—or ‘legacy’—PSLS, and instructions are embedded throughout the system, a variety of resources were provided to staff to help ease the burden of change, including bulletins, quick start guides, and short instructional videos. Links to the new PSLS and other resources were posted on staff intranet sites.

Individuals interested in more in-depth training leveraged the award-winning BCPSLS Patient Safety e-learning course on LearningHub and iLearn, which was updated to demonstrate how to report incidents in the new PSLS. The revised course will become available to each health authority as it onboards to the new PSLS.

Handlers were also offered virtual drop-in sessions with PSLS Coordinators and Central Office and are now able to register for a suite of new handler e-learning courses that demonstrate how to review incidents and use DCIQ: Handler Role (introductory), Incidents (intermediate), and Tools and Data (advanced).

In terms of adoption, technical hiccups caused a slight dip in the volume of incident reports in Northern Health during Go Live which rose back up to usual volumes within a few days. Interior Health experienced no reduction in report volumes at all.

“The transition to the new PSLS went smoothly and had the added value of renewing staff interest in patient safety and the use of PSLS,” says Melanie Carlson, Regional Manager, Safe Quality Care, Northern Health.

For more information about Go Live in Northern Health, check out our 2024 Quality Forum storyboard.

What you need to know

When the new PSLS comes to your health authority, you’ll be able to report and follow up patient safety incidents almost the same way you do now. Every form in PSLS contains step-by-step instructions and pop-up help.

After Go Live, handlers will have a reasonable, limited time to approve and close events in the legacy system before it becomes read-only. Don’t stress, though: the database will remain accessible indefinitely for staff to view records and download data.

Monthly PDF summary reports have been replaced with data dashboards. Dashboards are accessible, interactive, up-to-date, and available to every handler to help manage workflow and learn from data. Additional analytics tools are in development.

We’ve also updated our logo to reflect PSLS’s new look and feel. The green and grey logo appears in our new system and related communications. The current red and grey logo will remain in the legacy system. We’ve also dropped the ampersand in our name to keep things simple.

What’s next?

We’ve just completed a formal evaluation of Northern Health’s Go Live and are happy to report that 87% of handlers who completed our survey rated the new PSLS as good, very good, or excellent! What’s more, 62% of handlers found it easy or very easy to use. Evaluation results will be used to inform and improve launches in other health authorities and ongoing software configuration.

We’ve learned a lot from our experiences with Northern Health and Interior Health and are very grateful for their participation and leadership. BC’s other health authorities will all benefit from their willingness to lead the way!

BCPSLS Central Office is currently engaged with Island Health to prepare for their Go Live in early 2025 and will continue working with the remaining regional health authorities and PHSA until all are onboarded to the new system.

We extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in our engagement activities to further best practices for reporting and learning from patient safety incidents!

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