Medical Research

Every day, patients are at risk of harm in the healthcare system. Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel often care for patients in challenging and dynamic environments, leading to a milieu ripe with potential patient safety hazards. To begin to formally address current patient safety issues in EMS, the Emergency Medical Services Chiefs of Canada (EMSCC) and the Calgary EMS Foundation partnered with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) to fund research exploring patient safety in the unique EMS setting. The project included three phases: a systematic review of the literature, qualitative interviews of key informants from Canada and abroad, and a roundtable event that brought together leaders in EMS and patient safety experts to discuss the successes, challenges and future direction of the patient safety movement in Canadian prehospital care.

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Patient Safety in Emergency Medical Services - Advancing and Aligning the Culture of Patient Safety in EMS