Patient Safety in Emergency Medical Services

As well trained compassionate caregivers, emergency medical services (EMS) personnel often care for patients in challenging and dynamic environments. Providing healthcare services in unstable, high stress environments can lead to a real potential for risk of harm.

To better understand and begin to formally address the current patient safety issues in EMS, in 2008, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute partnered with the EMS Chiefs of Canada (EMSCC) and the Calgary EMS Foundation to fund research exploring patient safety in EMS. Through a competitive process, a research team from the University of Toronto was commissioned to develop the report, “Patient Safety in Emergency Medical Services: Advancing and Aligning the Culture of Patient Safety in EMS”.

Together with a pan-Canadian Advisory Group, experts and stakeholders from across Canada and internationally were engaged to contribute information and expertise throughout the research process. The findings highlight the important challenges and opportunities for improving patient safety in EMS and that collaboration across Canada is required to better define and understand patient safety incidents in EMS.

This paper is the first of its kind in the world and the researchers have already presented their findings internationally. It is our collective hope that this work forms a firm foundation for future improvement initiatives and investments in high quality research and education to improve patient safety in EMS.

For more information about this initiative, contact Sandi Kossey at skossey@cpsi-icsp.ca