Celebrating World Patient Safety Day 2024
September 2024
By: Mary A. Hill, Sharifa Kazi, Simran Isani
On September 17, 2024, researchers from the University of Toronto and Michael Garron Hospital, home to the Canadian Hub of the Patient-Partnered Diagnostic Center of Excellence - "the Center," gathered to celebrate World Patient Safety Day. This international event, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), is an annual initiative aimed at raising global awareness about patient safety. It encourages patients, healthcare workers, researchers, and leaders to come together and take action to prevent avoidable harm in healthcare. This year's theme, “Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety,” highlights the importance of improving diagnosis for safer care.
An event was held at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), inviting patients, families, care team members, and hospital staff to join in the celebration by taking part in various activities. These activities were aimed at sparking conversations about patient engagement, raising awareness about diagnostic safety, and emphasizing the importance of patient engagement at every stage of the diagnostic process.
Healthcare team members register and attend the World Patient Safety Day celebration at MGH
Here’s a closer look at the day’s activities:
Patient Safety Day Survey
Last year, we launched a survey to understand how patients and care team members perceive patient engagement in diagnostic safety. The survey was such a success that we decided to implement it again this year! This feedback will help us better communicate with patients and the broader community about the importance of patient engagement in diagnostic safety. If you are interested in taking the survey, click here.
Pin the Post-It on the Diagnostic Process
In this interactive game, we asked participants to place sticky notes on areas of the diagnostic process where they felt communication, shared decision-making, and question-asking were most important.
Participants thought that it was most important for patients and care team members to communicate in the early stages of the diagnostic process, when patients first engage with the health system and information gathering begins. Patient participants wrote on their sticky notes that it is important to engage family members and caregivers in these stages, too.
Question 1: When is communication most important?
Healthcare workers and patients overwhelmingly voted that shared decision-making is most important when diagnoses are communicated and treatment plans are made. One MGH care team member commented, "Patients should be involved when we're deciding on next steps because if it doesn't work for them, it doesn't work at all."
Question 2: When is shared decision-making most important?
Participants believed that patients speaking up and asking questions was important throughout all stages of the diagnostic journey, particularly during the "communication of diagnosis" and "treatment" stages.
Question 3: When is asking questions most important?
Kahoot Quiz: How can patients be engaged in the diagnostic process?
The third game challenged participants by testing their knowledge about the role patients play in the diagnostic process, and the ways that patients and providers can improve engagement. The Kahoot questions were developed based on the “Toolkit for Engaging Patients in Diagnostic Safety” from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The toolkit outlines several actions that patients and care team members can take to improve patient engagement throughout the diagnostic process:
What patients can do:
1) Tell their story fully, completely, and clearly.
2) Provide accurate information about their symptoms.
3) Speak up if they feel they have not been heard.
4) Ask questions to clarify the information shared.
5) Use a checklist to describe symptoms, concerns, prior tests, and physicians consulted.
What providers can do:
1) Listen to patients.
2) Support patients in effectively sharing their symptoms.
3) Ask patients what they think is going on.
4) Conduct a thorough history and physical examination.
5) Co-create a visit agenda.
6) Know patients, their history, and read their prior notes.
7) Integrate "pre-work" for patients (e.g., symptoms, history of present illness, labs).
Art Activity: Visualizing Patient Engagement in Diagnosis
Finally, participants were invited to illustrate what patient engagement in diagnostic safety meant to them by painting on small canvases. They also wrote short descriptions and personal reflections on the back of their paintings. Some of the words and phrases captured were “Shared collaboration,” “Make me feel safe to engage,” “It gives me value,” and “DUTY, CARE, LOVE.”
Painted canvases illustrating: “What does patient engagement in diagnostic safety mean to you?”
Overall, the event was met with great enthusiasm, and attendees left feeling more informed and empowered about the role of patient engagement in diagnostic safety. We are excited to build on the success of this year’s event and hope to grow the event next year by expanding it to other Center Hubs to inspire wider action and participation.
Updated September, 23, 2024