Practice Environments and Patient Safety
Patient Safety
Patient Safety Resource Guide
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Message from the CNA Chief Executive Officer
Dear Colleagues, Patient safety is fundamental to nursing care and health care across all settings and sectors. It is not merely a mandate; it is a moral and ethical imperative in caring for others. In recent years, patient safety has moved to the forefront of the health care agenda nationally and internationally. As a registered nurse (RN), you are in an excellent position to strengthen the patient safety net. As the largest group of health care professionals in Canada, we have the greatest amount of patient contact and are often the first to recognize the needs of the system. However, CNA believes that providing for patient safety involves a wide range of actions at the level of the individual RN, the profession, the multidisciplinary team, health care organizations and the health care system. In order to determine the root causes of error within the health care system and improve patient safety, the health care system must develop, maintain and nurture a culture of safety. The focus on the patient safety agenda has lead to an explosion of information related to numerous practice changes, research, new practice guidelines and regulations. Therefore, it is critical that RNs in all practice domains be kept current of patient safety initiatives in order to fulfill their mandate of providing safe, competent and ethical care as expressed in the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses. Keeping abreast of new developments and the increasing body of literature in this subject area can be an overwhelming and daunting task. That is why CNA has developed a web-based bibliographic database as a resource tool for RNs. The Patient Safety Resource Guide will assist you in your pursuit of knowledge related to this crucial issue. Like other bibliographic databases, this resource is searchable and will be updated on a continual basis to ensure the latest resources are available. We wish you well in your efforts to advance patient safety within your practice setting and would be pleased to hear from you.
Lucille Auffrey, RN, MN
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