Global Patient Safety Alerts to promote healthcare transparency

SuperSHIFTER Stephen Routledge is a senior program manager at the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, who is leading the next evolution of the Global Patient Safety Alerts (GPSA) program.

GPSA is a publicly-available online collection of indexedpatient safety incidents, containing more than 1,500 alerts and 7,500recommendations from 26 contributing organizations around the world. Theprogram supports global efforts on patient safety reporting, learning andsharing through the Canadian Patient Safety Institute's designation as a WorldHealth Organization Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety and PatientEngagement.

The tool promotes cross-jurisdictional learning andencourages transparency and a culture of improvement among the global patientsafety community. Contributing organizations publicly share information aboutidentified patient safety risks and their recommendations on effectivestrategies to prevent reoccurrence and patient harm. Users can accessevidence-informed recommendations to help them analyze, manage and learn frompatient safety incidents, and connect with organizations that have valuableinsight and strategies to reduce harm. The database also includes informationon emerging and trending patient safety risks, quality improvementmethodologies and risk communication strategies.

Global Patient Safety Alerts are free to use. Users can search by keyword, browse through general topic areas such as medications or surgery, or access submissions from a specific contributor. Last year alone, there were more than 13,000 views of specific GPSA summaries, by users from over 40 countries. Read more.