At Holland Bloorview, we are proud to celebrate Canadian Patient Safety Week (CPSW), October 27 to October 31, by highlighting the pivotal role our family leaders play in co-designing safer care. Their meaningful contributions have helped shape our Error Prevention (EP) training and led to the creation of a new, family-focused initiative: Advocating for Safety. This program reflects our commitment to partnering with families to build a culture where safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Canadian Patient Safety Week, led nationally by Healthcare Excellence Canada, is an annual opportunity to raise awareness and promote improvements in patient safety across the health-care system. CPSW brings together health-care providers, patients, families and organizations to share knowledge, tools and strategies that support safer care. This year’s theme, “All Voices for Safer Care,” affirms the vital role every voice plays in creating a culture of safety.

Advocating for Safety: A family-centered approach

The Advocating for Safety curriculum was born from early conversations with family leaders during the development of our error prevention training. Recognizing the need to extend safety knowledge beyond staff, the program was designed to equip families and caregivers with practical tools to support safe care practices.

“The idea of tailoring the error prevention curriculum to support families and caregivers ensures they, too, have access to essential safety knowledge and techniques,” says Melody Hicks, project manager, quality, safety and performance.

Following the successful rollout of the error prevention training across the organization, the focus shifted to co-developing a version specifically for families. Several workshops have since been hosted, and the team is now exploring flexible delivery methods that better align with family schedules and the timing of their child’s hospital stay.

“This initiative is a first within the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) network, and we’re proud to be leading the way,” Hicks adds. “Once we complete a robust evaluation of the program, we look forward to sharing our findings with the network to help inform and inspire similar efforts across other hospitals.”

Insights from family leaders

Family leaders have shared powerful reflections on the importance of their role in co-designing patient safety:

“As members of the health-care team, families play a critical role in patient safety. Empowering families to speak up for safety will have far reaching positive impacts in the health-care context, and beyond,” says Meredith Sandles, family leader.

Adrienne Zarem, also a family leader, affirms: “What inspires me about this year’s campaign is its powerful affirmation that every voice matters in making care safer. As families, our voices haven’t always been recognized as essential to nurturing a culture of safety - but this year’s CPSW campaign makes it clear: our voices are vital to creating safety for everyone.” 

A shared commitment to caring safely

As part of our Caring Safely commitment, Holland Bloorview is proud to amplify the voices of families, not just as participants, but as co-creators of the care we provide.

“When we listen, reflect, and act together across roles and experiences, we create the conditions for real, lasting change,” says Hicks.

Learn more about our Caring Safely program.

By Terry Mutuku