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Volume2 Issue5
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ssues and
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eople
she says. “Unfortunately, there’snot a lot of researchon
patient safety incidents that occur indental settings. There
is some informationonwrong-siteextractions, or needle
sticks, but nothingnecessarilyabout documentationerrors
inpatient chartsor contraindicationsofmedications.”
Learning fromMedicine
Aspart of aCFHSG initiative, theDental Services are
embarkingonanambitiousproject that aims toadapt
patient safetymeasuresused inmedicine to thedental
setting. “As amilitaryorganization, agreat benefit isour
system-wideapproach,” says Lieutenant-Colonel Joy. “We
have42dental clinics that function like individual dental
practicesbut are integratedwithprimarymedical careas
part of theoverall organizational structure for theCFHSG.
With this kindof system,wecan implement different
processes andmeasure their effectiveness;wecanpromote
best practices andadvancedentistrynot only for our own
patients andbut alsoas a test bed for the rest of thecountry.”
Integratingmedicineanddentistry in theCFHSG’s approach
topatient safetyalso supports theoverall healthof patients.
“Withinour organization,wehave theability tomake
connectionsbetween the familyphysicianand the family
dentist,” saysMs. Ranganathan. “And ifwecanestablish that
asbeingabest practice, it could improve the integrationof
oral care intoan individual’soverall healthcare.”
Learning from theAirForce
Drawingparallelsbetween safety indentistryand inaviation
canbe instructive: both sharea teamenvironment, a
systematicapproach toprocesses, andbenefit fromcrew
(team) resourcemanagement. Byadapting theprocesses and
reporting frameworkused in theRoyal CanadianAir Force
(RCAF) Flight Safetyprogram toahealthcareenvironment,
CFHSGhopes to foster even safer,more reliablecare. “We
have thebenefit of having theRCAF inour backyard. Their
flight safetyprogram is verywell establishedand respected,
saysMs. Ranganathan. “Sowe’vebeenable to takebest
practices from their flight safetyprogramandareapplying
them tohealthcare.”
To illustratehowflight safetyprinciples apply tohealth
care, Lieutenant-Colonel Joycites theuseof patient safety
officers at everymedical anddental clinicacross theCFHSG,
mirroring theuseof unit-level flight safetyofficers, and the
implementationof an incident reporting system informed
by theRCAF system. CFHSGalsohopes toexamineand learn
fromRCAF’shighly successful, deep-rootedcultureof safety.
ChangingAttitudes
It’s the intangibleaspectsof apatient safetyprogram—those
that helpdefineaworkplaceculture—that areperhapsmost
difficult toestablish. Developingacultureof safety involves
encouragingopenness to reportingmistakes, amove
thatmanycliniciansmaybeunwilling tomakebecauseof
perceivednegative implications. But shifting theemphasis
away fromblame is a keypart of ensuringa strongcultureof
patient safety, saysMs. Ranganathan. “Very rarely is anerror
deliberateor the result of incompetence. Usually, anerror
occursbecauseof a system failureor processbreakdown.
Weneed tohelppatients feel confident thatwe’regoing
todo somethingabout preventableerrors. It’s reallyabout
acultural shift, at arrivingat theunderstanding thatwhat
makesmeabetter clinician is that I’mdoing something
aboutmymistake.”
Tohelp further enhance thecultureof patient safetywithin
themilitaryhealth services, theCFHSG ispartneringwith
theCanadianPatient Safety Institute (CPSI) to implement a
patient safetyeducationprogramacross theorganization.
Thegoal of theprogram is to trainenoughpatient safety
trainers to sustainapeer-to-peer systemof education for
all levelsof healthcareworkers, basedonacurriculum
that develops attitudes, knowledge, specific skills, and
behaviours aroundpatient safety. For thiswork, theCFHSG
was awardedCPSI’s Innovation inPatient SafetyEducation
Award for 2014.
Although theeducationprogram is still in its infancy, it has
thepotential tochangehowpatient safety is considered
andmanaged inmilitarydental clinics.What themilitary
Dental Services learns from thiswork could inform
discussions about patient safety inCanadiandentistryand
healthcare, ingeneral. Ultimately, it has thepotential to
improvepatient care.
a
