The Safety Net
April 2026
| Stay informed with the latest insights, updates, and initiatives dedicated to enhancing patient safety. | | |
On behalf of the PFPSC Board, we wish you the very best! Enjoy Spring’s arrival! We look forward to continuing our work with you and our external partners through this next quarter and year. Stay tuned for information and invites to our June Annual General Meeting at the end of June.
Again, we wish to express our gratitude to Janet, our Operations & Program Manager, to our members and partners on our Board and Board Committees, and to all of you for your ongoing contributions and support as we continue to work through our activities this year. We welcome members to consider joining the Board and our Board Governance, Communications and Finance/Audit/Resources Committees.
During this quarter we were very fortunate to receive a HIROC Patient Safety grant to support the development of two toolkit initiatives – one for Communications (Catharine Heddle) and the other for Incident Management/Mutual Healing (Diane Aubin). Both will be completed and promoted in the next month or so.
We know you are awaiting news regarding our operations funding situation – what we can say at this time is that we will be receiving funding support through a Collaborative Funding Partners approach. Details will be finalized in the coming months. In the meantime, we continue to seek other sources of funding including sponsorships, along with in-kind supports. We also continue to seek partners who will collaborate with us on our priorities, activities and other opportunities. If you know of groups/organizations aligning with patient safety and who would be interested in being approached to fund, support or collaborate with us, please send us an email.
We welcome feedback and suggestions anytime - please contact Janet at janet.bradshaw@patients4safety.ca or Kathy Kovacs Burns at kathy.kovacsburns@ualberta.ca.
| | Mutual Healing Working Group Update | | |
We met with Manitoba Shared Health in February. Those present expressed keen interest in having the Mutual Healing Program (MHP) piloted in their organization. We are waiting to hear back from the group following their meeting with organization senior Leadership.
An abstract was submitted to the International Society for Quality in Health Care ( ISQua) to present at the ISQua conference in Sept 2026 to expand on the first two presentations we have given at the ISQua conference. We hope to have a pilot under our belts to report on during this presentation. We are waiting to hear back on acceptance of the abstract.
We approached a prominent health/medical podcaster, Chris Rokash from AB, about appearing as a guest on her program to discuss Mutual Healing. She was interested in the topic, however felt it would be best to have had a pilot take place before appearing on her podcast. We will keep this in mind for the future but will seek other opportunities in the podcast community to share information about MH as well as other topics PFPSC members are passionate about.
MH was included in the Incident Management resource that was developed by a working group and contractor Diane Aubin with funds from the HIROC grant. Read more about this resource in the Patient Safety Incident Management report and also in the MH article elsewhere in the newsletter.
Together for healing,
The Mutual Healing Working Group (MHWG)
Donna Davis, Wendy Nicklin (co-chairs), Dale Nixon, Linda Hughes. External members: Amy Nakajima, Alice Watt.
| | Knowledge Transfer (KT) Working Group Update | | |
The Knowledge Transfer Group is off to another busy year. A work plan for this year includes our usual campaigns as well as some new initiatives.
The first campaign of the year will be for World Hand Hygiene day in May. Look for info about that on the PFPSC website.
The new thing for this year is that the KT Group is exploring how to set up podcast series. Two KT Members Esha Ray Chaudhuri, and Andrew Milroy have offered to start these beginning steps by drafting questions and ideas for podcasts about equity and patient safety (Esha) and incident management (Andrew). The PFPSC Mutual Healing and Incident Management Group has done a lot of work in the area of incident management and the KT Group will be looking to them for guidance to move forward. To all PFPSC Members, if you have ideas to share or people you think would be helpful to interview, email Esha or Andrew. Or if you have ideas about other possible patient safety podcast topics email Theresa Malloy-Miller.
The KT Group will continue to assist the Communication Group with social media posts- follow PFPSC on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
We invite and look forward to your involvement!
PFPSC Knowledge Transfer Group
Theresa Malloy-Miller, Chair, Paula Orecklin, Esha Ray Chaudhuri, Kathy Kovacs Burns, Andrew Milroy
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Communications Working Group Update
Supporting Communication and Connection
| | Crystal of Compassion by Rachel Harris from HeART of HealthCARE virtual art gallery | |
The CWG is planning a meeting to discuss the website, social media, the newsletter, regular member communication, and internal CWG processes prior to the All Member meeting on April 27th where an update will be given. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions on the previously mentioned subjects.
The CWG could really use more help with its responsibilities so if you’d like to give us a try or find out more about the CWG please contact Janet, Donna Davis, Shalini Periyalwar, Sanja Pavlovic or hello@patients4safety.ca Being on a working group is a great way to get to know other members and the workings of PFPSC plus a great way to influence changes you’d like to see in PFPSC.
Together for Patient Safety,
The CWG
Donna Davis (chair), Shalini Periyalwar, Sanja Pavlovic
| | Patient Safety & Incident Management | | |
We have had interest from a private Home Care group in BC about the PSIM workshop. Contact has been made and we are waiting to hear back from the interested party.
The Incident Management/ Mutual Healing resource which was funded by a HIROC grant has been completed. Donna Davis, Dale Nixon, Wendy Nicklin, Linda Hughes and contractor Diane Aubin was the working group for this project. The resource consists of 4 infographics:
- Advice for Leaders after a patient safety incident: From the perspective of harmed patients and families
- Advice for Healthcare Workers after a patient safety incident: From the perspective of harmed patients and families
- Advice for Patients and Families after a patient safety incident: From the perspective of harmed patients and families
- Advice on How to Heal Together after a patient safety incident: From the perspective of harmed patients and families
as well as a Handbook, with expanded sections on each infographic, intended for use by trainers, presenters, and educators to help guide the teachings/explanation of the infographics. The logistics are still being worked out for how we will promote and use this resource. We want what is best for PFPSC while acknowledging the benefit to sharing , what we believe, are excellent resources for a broad audience. See an excerpt of the handbook elsewhere in the newsletter. We extend our sincere thank you to the people whom we approached, both internally and externally, to review the material in the resource for the valuable feedback they provided.
Patient Safety and Incident Management Group
Donna Davis (chair), Linda Hughes, Melissa Sheldrick, Theresa Malloy-Miller, Kathy Kovacs Burns, Dale Nixon.
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We have not received any applications for membership since our last meeting in January. After her years of dedicated leadership as Chair of the MWG, Melissa Sheldrick has stepped back from the chair position. She will remain as a member to help with interviews and weigh in on decisions. A huge thank you to Melissa for her time to lead the MWG. We are so grateful and appreciative for her past and continued contributions to the MWG and PFPSC. Donna Davis will be interim Chair until a replacement comes forward. We are so happy to say that Linda Hughes will join the MWG. We need more members so if you’d like to join the group please don’t hesitate to contact Donna, Janet, Melissa, Linda or hello@patients4safety.ca Don’t hesitate to contact one of the above if you have questions about what the group does. Being on the group is a great way to get to know PFPSC members. We have a meeting of the MWG scheduled for April 7th where we will be discussing recruitment, membership options (like an affiliated category), interview process etc. There will be an update at the All Member meeting on April 28th.
Membership Working Group
Donna Davis (chair), Melissa Sheldrick, Linda Hughes,
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Theresa Malloy-Miller
I am a retired pediatric Occupational Therapist who lives in Delaware, ON (west of London, ON). My career as an OT started at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, in Calgary Alta, where I worked on a multi-disciplinary team serving children who had a range of developmental and physical challenges. After completing a Master’s degree in educational psychology, I shifted to a centre for children and adolescents with learning disabilities. When we returned to Ontario, I was on faculty at Western University in the OT program and then returned to worked as a community therapist. My passion has always been working with children who have special needs and their families.
My husband of 52 years, Tim, is a retired business person, manufacturing canoes and kayaks which are sold around the world. We are very fortunate to have two sons, Ben and Dan. With being in the canoe business, we are a canoe/ kayak family; pictures of Ben and Dan make it look like they were raised in the wilderness. Ben is an elementary school teacher with a degree in physics. He is a hockey coach; plays hockey and most evenings he is helping his own children and their friends with their homework. He and his wife Nicole have 3 children – our much-loved Grandchildren- Gwen, Blake and Caraline and also Monica, an additional teenager who has joined their family. It is a very busy household.
Dan is the reason that I joined PFPSC. Dan also played hockey and lacrosse. In his Grade 12 year, when he had just completed his university applications to study biochemistry, he developed what looked like a severe case of the flu. Three days later he was gone. After 2 ER visits, a series of misdiagnoses, charting errors, miscommunications between team members, equipment difficulties and a final inappropriate sedation, he did not survive the care that he received. We learned after that Dan had a mild case of viral myocarditis. After 4 years of meetings with hospital staff, college complaints, media coverage and a change in the CEO of the hospital, we received an apology.
My patient safety journey began with PFPSC in 2006. I have been part of the PFPCS Knowledge Transfer Group for a number of years and also co-lead the Canadian Alliance for Patient safety (PFPSC project) with Melissa Shelldrick and Carolyn Hoffman, both from ISMP Canada. I have been part of local patient safety efforts, being a patient partner on quality and safety committees, a patient experience committee and a conference planning committee. My husband and I have presented Dan’s story many times over the years. We were part of the introduction of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for Presentation, Diagnosis, and Medical Management of Heart Failure in Children in 2013. PFPSC has been a central part of my life for almost 20 years; I am inspired by the relentless efforts by PFPSC members to ensure that Canadian healthcare is safe for everyone.
Things I enjoy are walking, canoeing, kayaking, road-biking, pickleball and line dancing. With the assistance of my talented sisters, I am learning to crochet.
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Latifa Nasari
Latifa Nasari is a Project Manager based in Ontario with over 15 years of experience leading complex initiatives across healthcare, public safety, and telecommunications. She is also a family advocate, working to support patient safety, accountability, and improved care experiences within the healthcare system. Through her work, she is committed to strengthening transparency, governance, and patient-centered practices.
| | | We will feature 2-3 member profiles in each newsletter to get to know each other better. Please send your profile and picture to hello@patients4safety.ca | |
What Our Members Are Up To
| | How Our Members Contribute to Safer Healthcare | | |
Melissa Sheldrick
Melissa Sheldrick recently gave an interview on CBC radio speaking on Medication safety. You can watch the video here: Video or see the print version (more detail) here: print
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Donna Davis
Video presentation telling Vance’s Story to U of Sask. medical school Internal medicine residents.
Patient Advisor on the Patient Advisory Group for Health Standards Organization
Patient Advisor with ISMP on developing a “Disclosure After a Medication Error” resource for providers
Participant in the HEC Action Series-“ Leading Safety Differently” This series was aimed at initiating safety conversations with patients, families and providers and increasing the comfort for both parties when the conversation takes place.
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Kathy Kovacs Burns:
- I continue to attend Health Canada's Natural Health Product Advisory Committee which discusses various aspects of safety and quality reviews and checks including for labelling of natural health products, marketing to consumers, and monitoring of product safety/side effects, etc. We had a meeting on February 10 and will meet again on April 14 to discuss Red Tape Reductions concerning labelling requirements for natural health products.
- I also attend quarterly meetings for Corrections Canada Patient Advocate Services Committee discussing various patent services, access, quality and safety of care, and practice improvements. Last meeting was on March 25th.
- I have been recently appointed Co-Chair of the Health Standards Canada Technical Committee on Adult Pain/Pain Management. I am there with lived experience and make mention of PFPSC as patient safety is very much a part of the discussion. First technical committee meeting was on March 30th. We will be meeting monthly until the end of the year.
| | Judy Birdsell (Alberta) is an active volunteer with Imagine Citizens Network and has recently convened meetings with interested individuals in Alberta who are strategizing about how to refocus attention on safety in our province. Individuals involved have a variety of experiences - from leadership roles in safety within service delivery, professional associations and nonprofit organizations to people with recent lived experience of health care harm. Teri Price (Greg’s Wings) is also a PFPSC member and is part of this working group. | | |
Eileen Chang has participated
1. As a Facilitator, attending a training session (via Zoom) on Wednesday March 4, 2026 with the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE) to review teaching plan, tools and model to be used in preparation for facilitating the session, “My Disease Will Never Define Me: A Session on Empathy “. This session, held on Tuesday, March 10 was with the University of Toronto students (health and social care programs) .
Learners’ objectives: Acquire an appreciation of patient’s perspectives while providing care; describe a tool to use for creating empathy in individual and team interactions with a patient; and discuss strategies that support empathetic interaction with patients.
2. As the PFPSC Patient/family representative member of the Advisory Panel for the update to the Hospital Medication Safety Self-Assessment (MSSA-Hospital) for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada. She participated in meeting #2 of 2, held on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 (via Zoom). This meeting reviewed additional feedback on the semi-final version of the update MSSA-Hospital, which incorporated “feedback from the pan-Canadian Advisory Panel members, ISMP Canada’s internal team, and external validation test sites”.
| | Do you have contributions you'd like to highlight for the next newsletter? Please reach out to hello@patients4safety.ca | |
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Our next all member meeting is on April 27, 2026. We are offering one time slot: 1:00 pm PT/2:00 pm MT/ 3:00 pm CT/ 4pm ET. If you need the invite please contact Janet at hello@patients4safety.ca. Agenda will be sent April 20th.
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| | In the absence of a guest article for this edition of the newsletter, the PFPSC group working on the Incident Management/ Mutual Healing resource are pleased to provide you with an excerpt from the completed resource. We look forward to sharing the complete resource with you in the not-too-distant future. | | | |
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Patients for Patient Safety Canada uncovered a knowledge gap about how to communicate with patients and families after a harmful patient safety incident (PSI). Although there is a great deal of information about this topic, we found no specific guides that come directly from the perspective and experience of harmed patients and families. This perspective is crucial to understanding what patients and families need when the patient is harmed during a healthcare incident, and how to ensure they are not further harmed by the disclosure and incident management process.
Members Donna Davis, Linda Hughes, Wendy Nicklin and Dale Nixon teamed up with consultant Diane Aubin to create infographics with advice on communicating with patients and families after a harmful incident. These were targeted to three audiences: patients and families, healthcare leaders, and healthcare workers. They also developed an infographic on healing together after harm, using evidence-based information gathered from PFPSC’s Mutual Healing Program. As a supplement to these infographics, the team developed a handbook intended for trainers and leaders who wish to expand further on the messages contained in the infographics.
Objectives of the project:
1. To convey key messages for each audience (leaders, healthcare workers, patients & families) about what patients and families need or should expect after a harmful patient safety incident (PSI).
2. To underscore the importance and value of communicating openly and honestly with the patient and family after a PSI.
3. To help leaders and healthcare workers understand the needs of the patient and family during and following a PSI, why the patient and family perspective is key to the investigation of the PSI and to the recommendations for improvement.
Each of the infographics emphasized the “4 As” for communicating with patients and families after a harmful incident:
The infographic targeting patients and families offers a set of questions they might want to ask after a harmful incident:
As an example of some of the advice for healthcare workers, we emphasized the importance of a genuine apology, and that they should:
· Include the words “I’m sorry”
· Be genuine, meaningful
· Acknowledge what happened
· Show accountability for the error – take responsibility
Further, we note that one of the most important message patients and families want to hear from healthcare workers is that what happened MATTERED to them. This means that the patients and families hear and understand from the healthcare workers that this incident made – and will make – a difference to them, that it was not something they will forget. Most importantly, the healthcare worker will learn from the incident and do everything they can to make sure it does not happen to another patient.
Our hope is to post the infographics and possibly the handbook on our website in the next few weeks. Those logistics are still being mapped out as we consider what is the best way to share this resource. Your impressions of this excerpt are appreciated.
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Private networks
With wireless networks, your devices are connected via radio signals instead of using cables or wires. They bring flexibility, convenience and, unfortunately, increased risk.
Secure your connections
| | | | Reading/Listening Suggestions | | |
Recently published in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal https://utppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3138/cpj-25-0045
PFPSC was involved as a collaborator in this project with both a survey and subsequent focus group. Kim Neudorf has been directly involved in all stages as an active partner.
Follow CBC Health’s Second Opinion for the latest news on what’s happening in healthcare across the country. CBC News Second Opinion
New tool we've launched to help people across Canada find out where to go to access medication review services : our new 🔎Medication Review Service Finder!
Patient Safety& Quality Heathcare (PSQH): The Podcast Episode 154-“Whats Impacting Patient Safety in 2026” https://www.psqh.com
The speaker, Dr. Nicholas Testa, Chief Clinical Officer, Sentact, talks about some of the major issues impacting patient safety in 2026. He says the main issue boils down to "consistency in practice" that address all elements of patient safety such as medication errors and hospital harm infections. Dr. Testa says the individual stories carry an enormous amount of weight. Patient safety is a priority and worth investing in.
The federal government is reviving proposed legislation that would allow digital health information to be shared safely across electronic systems, giving both patients and providers access to more comprehensive medical records.
If passed, the legislation would establish standards that companies developing electronic medical records must follow, allowing data to be shareable between health-care providers and across provinces and territories. As individuals, you can reach out to your member of Parliament to request that they support the Bill.
Read about the proposal here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/health-system-modernization-9.7074477
Health Quality BC (HQBC) published a patient safety strategy that includes a five-year plan towards improving patient safety in BC's healthcare system. Read more about the BC plan here: https://healthqualitybc.ca
Do all provinces have such a plan? Is there a Federal 5-year plan for patient safety? Something to work towards?
WHO page for World Patient Safety Day 2025. Here is a webinar on medication safety for children organized as part of a webinar series that were initiated from the WPS day 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es7PwklzIzQ
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