Viren Naik, Ottawa, Ontario

Laurel Taylor, Ottawa, Ontario

EHS Atlantic Health Training and Simulation Centre
Script and filming co-ordinated by Derek LeBlanc, Emergency Health Services, Nova Scotia Department of Health.

Discussion of video and the importance of team briefing
Viren Naik, Ottawa, Ontario

Live role play of team debrief

The family perspective
Sabina Robin, Calgary, Alberta

handout download

Speaking from a patient and family perspective, Sabina Robin will address the importance of open and honest communication that is empathetic and respectful when planning and delivering disclosure, and when reviewing educational tools that aid in the disclosure process. Drawing on her own experience of disclosure and those of other patients and families, Sabina will speak to what matters most to patients and families when unanticipated events occur.

Table discussion and role play

Participants develop their own plan based on messages they just saw, practice delivery and discuss.

Reflections from the board perspective following an adverse event
Joan Dawe, St. John's, Newfoundland

handout download

Joan Dawe will present the role of the Board of Trustees in quality and patient safety as well as circumstances surrounding the discovery and disclosure of an adverse event. Highlights of an appearance at a Public Inquiry and a Public Apology will be discussed.

Table discussion: Planning key messages for disclosure

Developing plan – what’s different from patient disclosure? Participants prepare briefing document and discuss.

Guidelines for informing the media
Cecilia Bloxom, Edmonton, Alberta

handout download

Often when an adverse event occurs at a healthcare facility the approach that is taken with the media can vary considerably. The Canadian Patient Safety Institute worked with key stakeholders across the country to develop guidelines that provide a framework of successfully proven methods to inform the media and assist patients, their families and healthcare administrators in the spokesperson role.

The main objective of these new guidelines is to provide guidance and a tool for healthcare administrators and communicators across all healthcare settings – to assist in a time of crisis. They are complementary to the CPSI Disclosure Guidelines that were launched in March 2008. Cecilia Bloxom will provide a demonstration of the Guidelines to Inform the Media of an Adverse Event.

Communicating with the public
Chuck Husak, Bethesda, Maryland

handout download

Chuck Husak will discuss the lexicon of crises that can happen to a healthcare institution – and the range of public responses that can be given in response to each:

• Aggressively confront, deny, and/or defend
• Admit, apologize
• Install elaborate new measures to prevent similar episodes
• No response

Chuck will also discuss who in the organization could respond, and give casebased examples for each of these situations, complete with outcomes to show what "worked" and what didn’t.

Full Group discussion

Why investigation is so important, and how to go about it – do’s/don’ts, techniques
Amir Ginzburg, Mississauga, Ontario

Gathering accurate facts about an adverse event is a critical step in trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This session will outline strategies to identify the “who, what, where, and when”, and will explore how thinking about the “why” frames how the investigation is conducted. Amir Ginzburg will discuss successful staff engagement strategies and the need to be sensitive to local factors, such as safety culture.

Table discussion: Investigation questions

Participants will choose questions that are part of investigation from list to practice and discuss

Viren Naik, Ottawa, Ontario

Viren Naik, Ottawa, Ontario

Laurel Taylor, Ottawa, Ontario