Managing for Quality and Safety
The focus of the managing for quality and safety theme is to increase attention on the quality of care problem in Canada and to help create an environment of accountability where it is impossible for the Canadian healthcare system to move forward without taking into consideration quality of care. The Foundation encourages research initiatives that help to expose the current "state of quality of care" across Canada and/or contribute to the knowledge base regarding effective management and policy strategies/interventions that enhance quality. The Foundation is also interested in research and related activities designed to identify and disseminate proven management interventions to support quality improvement at the institutional level.
| Building the Case for Quality |
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| Building the Case for Quality From video podcasts with experts to stories about innovations or innovators in the system to the latest research, the Building the Case for Quality initiative is designed to raise awareness of the latest evidence on the state of quality in Canadian healthcare, and to share the opportunities available for improvement. |
| What's New |
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Interprofessional Collaboration and Quality Primary Healthcare Support for implementing interprofessional collaboration in Canada is based on the assumption that it will improve community-based primary healthcare. However, the adoption of a team-based, interprofessional collaborative model of care and delivery in primary healthcare settings remains in its infancy in most of Canada. The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Health Council of Canada, commissioned a synthesis to gain a better understanding of the evidence surrounding interprofessional collaboration in primary healthcare in Canada, and the potential benefits for patients and healthcare providers. The synthesis “Interprofessional Collaboration and Quality Primary Healthcare” provides a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature regarding outcomes of interprofessional collaboration in primary healthcare, a Canadian environmental scan to obtain stakeholder feedback and incorporates findings from initiatives and projects that involved primary healthcare provision. Making healthcare reports more effective Public reporting of health system performance continues to gain prominence as an effective accountability technique in Canada and elsewhere. Its status has come as a result of its ability to respond to long-standing public expectations for transparency as well as policy and provider commitments to healthcare quality improvement. That’s why the Foundation and the Ontario Health Quality Council commissioned a research project to promote a better understanding of the emerging evidence around effective strategies and promising practices for public reporting on the quality of healthcare. A backgrounder provides the context in which the report was commissioned and the six key components for developing a public reporting program, while the main messages and executive summary and final report provides the full findings of the research project. Governance for Quality and Safety Improvement in Healthcare Organizations The performance of healthcare organizations is a responsibility of governance boards. To achieve their governing responsibilities in regards to quality and safety, boards can perform various functions such as defining clear goals and monitoring performance relevant to these goals. However, these responsibilities are assumed in different degrees, there is variation in the structures and processes of healthcare governance, and there is limited information on the effectiveness of different structures. That’s why the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, in partnership with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, commissioned a team of researchers to investigate governance for quality and safety improvement in healthcare organizations. The research team, comprised of Dr. Ross Baker, University of Toronto, and Dr. Jean-Louis Denis and Dr. Marie-Pascale Pomey, University of Montreal, will synthesize the available scientific evidence from the literature on current structures, processes, strategies and tools used by healthcare boards to improve quality and safety and conduct empirical case studies of board governance practices to present lessons learned and recommendations to improve boards’ governance performance in these domains. The final report will be available in September 2008. |
| Mark Your Calendars |
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May 21-22, 2008 Vancouver, British Columbia 2008 CAHSPR Conference National Healthcare Leadership Conference Transparency in Health Care Conference |
| CHSRF Quality and Safety Resources |
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Evidence Boost for Quality – a special series of Evidence Boost that summarizes the research behind ways to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Mythbusters – a series of research summaries revealing the research evidence contrary to accepted wisdom in Canadian healthcare debates. In the Know - a series of summaries of reports, research articles and other sources of knowledge relevant to the priority research themes of the Foundation. Promising Practices in Research Use – a digest showcasing innovative health-services organizations that are improving their capacity to use research. |
| Syntheses and Commissioned Research Projects |
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This report synthesizes what is known about the link between nurse staffing and patient safety and provides evidence-informed recommendations for policy makers who work in this area. |
| Other Resources |
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Regulation and quality improvement: A review of the evidenceKim Sutherland and Sheila Leatherman 
There is a vast range of regulatory interventions in use in healthcare systems worldwide. While there is a huge amount of activity; and extensive description and discussion in health related literature, regulation is not supported by a strong scientific evidence base. There are a number of authoritative reviews of regulation both generally and specifically in health but no comprehensive, easily accessible overview of the available research evidence to guide policy and decision making. The empirical evidence regarding healthcare regulation is sparse and where it does exist, is poorly collated and difficult to access. The objective of this study is to address these problems.
Patient-focused interventions: A review of the evidenceAngela Coulter and Jo Ellins 
Quest for Quality and Improved Performance (QQUIP) is a new initiative coordinated and funded by the Health Foundation in theUnited Kingdom. The Quality Enhancing Interventions component of the QQUIP initiative provides a series of structured evidence-based reviews of the effectiveness of a wide range of interventions designed to improve the quality of healthcare. As a contribution to QQUIP, the Picker Institute was asked to produce an overview of the research evidence on the effectiveness of patient-focused interventions. Patient-focused interventions are generally aimed at one or more of the following eight quality improvement goals: improving health literacy, improving clinical decision-making, improving self-care, improving patient safety, improving access to health advice, improving the care experience, improving access to health advice and improving service development. The Picker Institute’s contribution to the QQUIP programme aims to provide a concise and comprehensive overview of the evidence base for each of the above patient-focused interventions. |
| Quality and Safety Links |
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Quality and Safety Initiatives |
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Health Care Improvement Practices Registry The registry is a source of healthcare improvement practices from organizations across multiple healthcare sectors in Ontario. Practices submitted must meet minimum inclusion criteria in order to be posted on the Registry. Once a practice is accepted, a classification system based on the types of measures used (i.e. process or outcome measures) and the results achieved are applied to the practices. Safer Healthcare Now is a grassroots campaign to enlist Canadian healthcare organizations in implementing six targeted interventions in patient care. The campaign is patterned after the U.S. Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives campaign. Each of the six interventions upon which the campaign is based on evidence indicating that appropriate implementation and practice can lead to reduced mortality and morbidity. Hospital Report Research Collaborative The HRRC is independent research collaborative whose mandate is to conduct research and engage Ontario hospitals in performance measurement and management activities. The Quality Healthcare Network's vision is the trusted source to elevate system performance through collaborative and innovative means. Western Healthcare Improvement Network WHIN is organized as a voluntary "network" of health care quality improvement leaders working together to enable performance improvement in healthcare through leadership, education and collaboration. British Columbia Patient Safety Task Force B.C. PSTF was established by the BC Ministry of Health, with a mandate to work with the province's regional health authorities to improve the safety of patients treated by B.C.'s healthcare system. This task force is leading a coordinated approach to develop and implement standard policies and processes to support healthcare staff throughout the province in improving patient safety. Groupe Vigilance for safe care Le Groupe Vigilance is a committee of experts and citizens formed to monitor the safety of care in Quebec's healthcare and social services system (French web site only). |
Organizations involved in the quality and safety theme |
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Provincial Alberta Ontario Manitoba Saskatchewan |
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National Canadian Council on Health Services AccreditationCanadian Health Network Canadian Institute for Health Information Canadian Healthcare Association Canadian Patient Safety Institute Health Canada Health Council of Canada Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada |
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International International Society for Quality in Health Care World Health Organization Australia United Kingdom United States |
