The Canadian Adverse Events Study (May 2004) estimated that 7.5 per cent of patients admitted to acute care hospitals in Canada in the fiscal year 2000 experienced one or more adverse events, and that 36.9 per cent of those patients were judged to have highly preventable adverse events. The rate of adverse events in other countries ranges from 2.9-16.6 per cent.

Recent media attention and legal cases have focused attention on the consequences of adverse events, or complications in hospitals. Concern over patient safety is growing, both among the Canadian public and among our healthcare providers.

In December 2004, The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) introduced the 100K Lives (currently known as the 5 Million Lives) campaign to address similar concerns in the United States. It is striving to transform concern and best intentions into tangible improvements in patient safety through six targeted strategies that have been proven to prevent adverse events. Since its inception, the 100K Lives campaign has enlisted over 2800 hospitals to implement changes that are proven to prevent adverse events. It has also captured the attention of Canadian direct care providers, hospital administrators and others committed to improving patient safety.

Many examples exist in Canada and around the world of initiatives that have measurably improved patient safety. But, as noted by Dr. Don Berwick, President and Chief Executive Officer of IHI, the healthcare system “does not yet reliably transfer best-known science into action, and processes frequently fail, despite the best intentions of a dedicated and highly skilled workforce.”

Using the 100K Lives campaign as a model, individuals and organizations across Canada have come together to develop a Canadian campaign to promote improvements in patient safety, using the same six intervention strategies selected by IHI.

On April 12, 2005, Safer Healthcare Now! was born.

Safer Health Care Now! has entered the second phase of their Campaign. In addition to the six interventions introduced in Phase I, four new interventions have been added to Phase II. There are now a total of 10 SHN Interventions.