Canadian Health Services Research Foundation

Quality and patient safety

Both Listening for Direction II and III identified quality and patient safety as a recurring theme. All levels in an organization, from boards to management to staff to the patients themselves, need to embrace the change that is necessary to ensure a consistent commitment to quality improvement and safety. It is also crucial to increase the focus on performance indicators: their use and misuse, the need to understand data gaps, and the need for shared standards.

The Foundation collaborates with other organizations with a mandate for quality improvement and patient safety, such as the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and the Health Council of Canada.

Some questions we're asking:

1. How can decision makers and clinical leaders access and use effective information about safety and quality at different levels of the healthcare system?
2. How can patients and families contribute to improving the quality of care?
3. How are institutional boards and senior executive teams held accountable for safety and quality improvement?

CHSRF Resources

• Building the Case for Quality
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Manage waits centrally for better efficiency (March 2008)
• Interprofessional Collaboration and Quality Primary Healthcare; Appendices (December 2007)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Visiting-specialist services to improve access and outcomes for isolated populations (December 2007)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Incorporate lay health workers to promote health and prevent disease (September 2007)
• In the Know: Effects of socioeconomic status on mortality after acute myocardial infarction (Septebmer 2007)
• In the Know: Do patients receive recommended treatment of osteoporosis following hip fracture in primary care? (September 2007)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Self-management education to optimize health and reduce hospital admissions for chronically ill patients (June 2007)
• Managing for Quality and Safety Environmental Scan (March 2007)
• In the Know: How to develop a business case for quality (March 2007)
• Mythbusters: Myth: We can improve quality one doctor at a time (March 2007)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Introduce patient decision aids to improve clinical decision-making quality for "grey zone" decisions (March 2007)
• Report from a Strategic Consultation on Managing for Quality and Safety (March 2007)
• Promising Practices: How long-term care can harness research to improve quality (2006)
• In the Know: Who is at Greatest Risk for Receiving Poor-Quality Health Care? and The Quality of Health Care Delivered to Adults in the United States (October 2006)
• In the Know: Patient Safety Culture Measurement and Improvement: A "How To" Guide (October 2006)
• Staffing for Safety: A Synthesis of the Evidence on Nurse Staffing and Patient Safety (September 2006)
• Promising Practices: How a B.C. hospital uses research evidence to improve care for elderly patients (2006)
• Mythbusters: Myth: People use health system report cards to make decisions about their healthcare (September 2006)
• Evidence Boost for Quaity: Implement nurse staffing plans for better quality of care (September 2006)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Electronic decision support tools bring better care to the bedside (December 2005)
• Evidence Boost for Quality: Interdisciplinary teams in primary healthcare can effectively manage chronic illnesses (September 2005)

Related Resources

• Regulation and quality improvement: A review of the evidence (October 2006)
• Patient-focused interventions: A review of the evidence (August 2006)