In this resource :

  • Patient Safety Culture Bundle

A Framework for Establishing a Patient Safety Culture 

Patient Safety Culture "Bundle" for CEOs/Senior Leaders 

What is the Patient Safety Culture "Bundle"? 

Strengthening a safety culture necessitates sequential, iterative and simultaneous interventions that enable, enact and learn in a way that is attuned to the existing culture. Through a literature review of more than 60 resources, we created a Patient Safety Culture “Bundle” that has been validated through interviews with Canadian thought leaders. The Bundle is based on a set of evidence-based practices that must all be applied in order to deliver good care. All components are required to improve the patient safety culture.


The Patient Safety Culture "Bundle" for CEOs and Senior Leaders encompasses key concepts of safety science, implementation science, just culture, psychological safety, staff safety/health, patient and family engagement, disruptive behaviour, high reliability/resilience, patient safety measurement, frontline leadership, physician leadership, staff engagement, teamwork/communication and industry-wide standardization/alignment.  

Download a one-pager of the Patient Safety Culture “Bundle” for CEOs/Senior Leaders

See infographic transcript

Why was this Bundle created? 

A patient safety culture is difficult to operationalize. Improving safety requires an organizational culture that enables and prioritizes patient safety. The importance of culture change needs to be brought to the forefront, rather than taking a back seat to other safety activities. 

The National Patient Safety Consortium Education Working Group verified the critical role senior leadership plays in ensuring patient safety is an organizational priority. A working group of partners, led by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (now Healthcare Excellence Canada), Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL), HealthCareCAN and the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC), joined together to establish a framework and advance this work. 

How can you use the Patient Safety Culture “Bundle”? 

The key components required for a Patient Safety Culture are identified under three pillars: 

ENABLING 

ENACTING 

LEARNING 

Within each pillar you will find links to valuable tools and resources to help you and your teams establish and sustain a patient safety culture. 

We invite your feedback and input to ensure the Bundle is current and relevant via info@hec-esc.ca

Testimonials

"Patient safety and healthcare quality are advanced when boards and senior leaders are committed to it and are able to show evidence of that commitment. Missing until now is a concise "how to" guide. The Patient Safety bundle for Leaders fills that gap."

Catherine Gaulton, CEO, HIROC