Welcome to Healthcare Safety Info-eLink™

MISSION

To achieve patient care excellence, improving the quality of occupational health and safety in healthcare must be a priority. My goal is to provide a high quality comprehensive user-friendly website with well-organized Internet links to credible sources of occupational health and safety information primarily related to healthcare. Healthcare Safety Info-eLink™ is a free service offered to safety professionals and other stakeholders in the healthcare industry who are committed to advancing safe working conditions in Canadian hospitals.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE

Maximize Efforts to Improve Quality of Patient Care in Hospitals through improving Healthcare Workplace Health and Safety Conditions and Practices.

PURPOSE

Data on the Canadian workforce has consistently indicated that healthcare workers are at greater risk of workplace injuries and more mental health problems than any other occupational group (Health Canada). In the U.S. for example:

Health Care Workers Health care is the second-fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing over 12 million workers. Women represent nearly 80% of the health care work force. Health care workers face a wide range of hazards on the job, including needlestick injuries, back injuries, latex allergy, violence, and stress. Although it is possible to prevent or reduce health care worker exposure to these hazards, health care workers actually are experiencing increasing numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses. Rates of occupational injury to health care workers have risen over the past decade. By contrast, two of the most hazardous industries, agriculture and construction, are safer today than they were a decade ago
(NIOSH).

In addition to this unacceptable situation, many patients suffer preventable care-related adverse events during hospitalization (Baker et al. 2004). As a result, patient safety in Canadian healthcare organizations has become an increasingly important topic and led to the recent creation of the (Canadian Patient Safety Institute). To address the issue of identifying strategies for improving patient care, much valuable effort has been focused on application of new technologies, developing better communication and coordination among clinicians, and creation of a patient adverse (sentinel) event information data base to be shared by hospitals for learning purposes Canadian College of Health Service Executives (ppt). However, a growing body of research indicates that healthcare worker health and safety conditions are not just an important but an essential factor associated with the quality of patient care (Yassi et al., 2005). Specifically, efforts to increase the quality of hospital occupational health and safety conditions and practices can be expected to have a direct positive impact on patient safety outcomes. Since knowledge is an essential component required for advancing this valuable concept to its maturity, this webservice was founded to provide a simplified and efficient means of accessing useful healthcare occupational and environmental safety information.
Christopher Lipowski, CRSP

"Culture clearly announces every day to every worker whether safety is a key value...it determines the extent of casualties, trauma disorders, stress claims and compensation paid...and it dictates whether elements of a safety system succeed or fail. The goal is to change your company’s culture until safety becomes an internal value that is incorporated in every plan, decision, and work activity. In the new safety culture, every employee will know that the only way to do anything is safely."— Dr. Dan Petersen
"The safety, health and environmental profession is characterized by complexity and change. From multiple and competing regulatory realities, to adult education and economic analysis, from understanding the near misses inherent in one’s workplace to fatality investigations, from working with unions to top management, SH&E practitioners are constantly challenged by complex issues that may not have any obvious solution."— J. Ramsay, Ph.D., E. Sorrell, Ed.D.

This website was founded by Christopher J. Lipowski, CRSP
former McGill University Health and Safety Officer, and is dedicated to the memory of Z.J. Lipowski, M.D.

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Last updated January 2009

Healthcare Safety Info-eLink™, Pinnacle Enterprises Canada