Patient Safety

Patient Safety Incident Reporting

Help us improve safety by reporting Patient Safety related incidents you may have experienced or witnessed as the best way to progress is to learn from mistakes, and the surest way to learn from mistakes and mitigate against them is to create an environment where we can acknowledge errors and act to correct what underpins them.

Once a report is received the incident is investigated and analyzed using methods and tools to assist in answering the following questions: what happened; how and why it happened; and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. Information is ultimately used to understand why things go wrong in our healthcare system and how to make care safer.

What is a patient safety incident?

It is an event or circumstance which could have resulted, or did result, in unnecessary harm to a patient. The process focuses on system failures and system-based analysis.

There are three types of patient safety incidents:

• Near Miss: an event, situation or error that took place before reaching the patient
• No Harm: reached the patient but caused no discernable harm
• Harmful: reached the patient and resulted in harm

How can we report a patient safety incident?

We can report a patient safety incident at any time. Contact the Patient Safety Committee at WRTCFHSPSIR@forces.gc.ca (DWAN only). Do not send Protected B information to this email. You will be contacted by a Patient Safety Officer with instructions on how to submit a DND 850 form. Please ensure to encrypt your e-mail when sending the DND 850 form (protected B document).