Do you ever wish there really was an “easy button” you could push to solve whatever problem you were facing?

Um…#yespleaseeveryday.

Well, several thousand health care staff and clinicians in BC are now a tiny bit closer to that dream: CST Cerner users in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), Providence Health Care (PHC), and Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) can now access PSLS with one click.

Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST)

What does PSLS have to do with CST?

“CST is linked with PSLS because CST has an imperative to drive safer, more effective care by transforming how we provide clinical care,” says Vicky Crompton, Executive Director, CST (PHSA) and long-time patient safety champion.

To help streamline the process of reporting and following up patient safety incidents, hazards, and near misses, anyone charting in CST Cerner can now access PSLS by simply clicking a link.

“The benefit is that the user can go back and forth between CST Cerner and PSLS without exiting out of either one,” adds Vicky. “With this link, it should be easier than ever to report patient safety incidents in PSLS.”

Reporting and following up incidents in PSLS

The PSLS link in CST Cerner leads to a provincial landing page, displaying icons representing the various specialty report forms available.

To report a patient safety issue, users can click the icon that best describes what happened to the patient.

The landing page also includes icons for each health authority in BC that uses PSLS. These can be selected to report incidents that don’t fit with any of the specialty forms.

A ‘Handler login’ link is displayed for those who follow up incidents.

Adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents can continue to be reported by selecting the ADR and MDI icons. Authorized users of ActionADE can continue to report via the ActionADE icon.

Information sharing

There is currently no interface between PSLS and CST Cerner to allow data sharing between the two systems.

On one hand this is good news, as the lack of information sharing averts any potential concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality.

On the other hand, it means that users will need to enter information in PSLS as usual—no information will be transferred from CST Cerner.

However, when PSLS transitions from its current web-based software to Datix Cloud IQ (DCIQ) software, there may be an opportunity for PSLS to draw information from the provincial PHN database to autopopulate patient details when a PHN is entered.

BC Cancer – Vancouver

If you haven’t heard, BC Cancer – Vancouver went live with CST Cerner on June 19, 2021.

“We’ll be offering on-site support at BC Cancer – Vancouver to help staff and clinicians report patient safety concerns during Go Live,” says Mary Lou Hurley, Director, Quality, Safety & Accreditation at BC Cancer.

Staff and clinicians at BC Cancer – Vancouver are encouraged to report patient safety concerns related to CST Cerner by using the report form that best describes what happened to the patient and answering ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Was the computer system a factor in the event?’.

Mary Lou supported the PSLS link in CST Cerner by canvassing staff and leaders to assess the potential usefulness of the link.

She and her team will be reviewing every PSLS report submitted during Go Live to ensure that reports related to CST Cerner don’t get missed.

BCPSLS Central Office extends their gratitude to Vicky, Mary Lou, and the CST team for making the PSLS link in CST Cerner a reality, and to all health care staff in BC who are committed to reporting and learning from patient safety incidents!

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