Patient Safety Case Study: Inadvertent overinfusion of NORepinephrine
Programming infusion pumps has been recognized as a high-risk activity and a source of adverse events. Infusion pumps can look similar but function differently for reasons such as inconsistent software versions, leading to use errors and potential for patient harm....
Continuing education for pressure ulcer prevention: Taking the pressure off! (Part 3) at Interior Health
Pressure ulcers are a common medical problem that negatively impact patients’ lives, causing pain, scarring, and possibly death. In this third article of our Let’s take the pressure off! series, we’re pleased to highlight the Skin and Wound Care Practices team from...
An interview with patient safety leaders Carl Macrae and Annemarie Taylor
Carl Macrae is a senior research fellow with the University of Oxford and a respected advisor on patient safety to the National Health Service (NHS) and other healthcare organizations around the world. He has devoted much of his career to improving safety and...
Optimizing pediatric patient transfers
Parents of a sick child in the Emergency Department (ED) feel a sense of relief when the healthcare team steps in, but it can also be a critical moment in terms of safety. The complexity of patient handovers – when a patient is transferred from one care setting to...
Standardizing observation levels for safer mental health care
As part of an overall strategy to promote personal and environmental safety for patients admitted to psychiatric settings in Fraser Health, best practice guidelines and a regional policy for levels of observation are in place across Fraser Health Mental Health and...
Anticipating and preventing medication error traps
Multi-agency and multidisciplinary problem solving: An increasingly common scenario in healthcare. During an emergency C-section, under time constraint, the anesthetist intended to give the patient succinylcholine, however the drug given was actually cisatracurium....