The Care Imperative: Improving Patient Safety in an Aging Population

Every year millions of Canadians receive safe and effective health care. Yet there is evidence that some patients experience unintended harm from their care. Older patients in hospital have a particularly high risk of experiencing adverse events. An adverse event is an unintended injury or complication that is caused by health care management rather than by the patient's underlying condition. Infections, pressure ulcers and fall-related injuries are examples of adverse events that older patients may experience in hospital. As a result of an adverse event, a patient may have to undergo more procedures, need other specialized care and/or new medications and stay longer in hospital than would have otherwise been expected. While the personal costs to patients may be enormous, so too are costs to the health care system. But the impact is not fully understood in terms of the financial burden and negative effect on access to services. The first step in understanding the impact of adverse events and how to prevent them is the development of valid methods to identify when adverse events have occurred. The overall goal of the research is to pilot test an efficient method to identify adverse events in older patients admitted to hospital. The research will be a foundation for the development and evaluation of specific interventions aimed at optimizing safe care for older patients in hospital that can be adapted to other care settings. Patient safety is an especially urgent priority given the growing number of older adults expected to access health care services.