Resources

We spend a lot of time on root cause analysis (RCA) – and have done it for 20 years or so. But key clinical risks remain stubbornly consistent.

We frequently discuss the importance of a ‘safety culture’ in human services – but what are the key ingredients? This scoping review synthesises evidence from multiple studies to identify key factors contributing to patient safety culture. Although the review focused on hospitals, the findings are relevant for all human service leaders seeking to build or strengthen their culture of safety.

Clinical Guidelines are developed to standardise practice and provide a solid evidence base for care. They are essential components of clinical governance to support safe and effective care and serve as valuable tools for training.  

As this study reveals, guidelines can also be a source of confusion and misapplication. Ambiguities in guidelines can result in varying interpretations among healthcare providers, contributing to inconsistent care and potential patient harm. 

The inter-dependency of clinician wellbeing and patient safety is well accepted. Staff burnout is a widespread problem and patient safety improvement appears to have stalled. This survey of 2187 physicians and 6643 nurses practising in 64 hospitals in six European countries investigated the well-being of physicians and nurses in hospital practice in Europe, and identified interventions that hold promise for reducing adverse clinician outcomes and improving patient safety.

What skills and experience do clinical governance or similar teams and units need to support your organisation's safety and quality agenda? In this webinar, Dr Sarah Fischer, Acting Executive Director of Safety at Safer Care Victoria, discussed the various roles and relationships to ensure fit-for-purpose teams.

In this webinar, Sarah Fischer, Director of Culture & Capability at Safer Care Victoria discussed the elements that make up a safety culture; the steps to safety culture maturation, the signs that indicate success and how culture is influenced at a local level.

What is a ‘culture of safety’ in the context of care quality? How does it help? Why is it important? While ‘safety culture’ trips off the tongue,  ‘culture’ is often nebulous in practice; and it can be unclear how to improve it or how the shift occurs.

Falls management and prevention is often described as a wicked problem. There are so many variables at play; consumer risk appetite and independence, staffing issues, technology and frailty, just to name a few. Endless breakthrough collaboratives, studies and improvement projects have addressed the issue. Whilst individual organisations may have experienced some success, falls remain a key cause of consumer harm across health and aged care.

SystemsThinking - A New Direction in Healthcare Incident Investigation.

The Managing Clinical Risk in Primary Health Care document is designed as a resource for staff in primary health care services. The document has been developed after consultation with practitioners, managers, risk specialists and with reference to the conceptual framework provided by the Victorian Quality Council.