Annual Quality and Safety Symposium explores environmental sustainability

This year’s keynote speakers focused on environmental sustainability and how it can support and complement quality improvement initiatives. The annual symposium as coincides with Patient Safety Week, which runs the last week of October in Canada. 

Dr. Christine Soong, Medical Director, Quality and Safety, and organizer of the symposium, says the event reinforces Sinai Health’s commitment to ongoing quality improvement.

“As an academic health sciences centre, quality and safety are at the core of our work,” says Dr. Soong. “In quality improvement, when we attain our goals, we continue to ask ourselves what is the next step to continue and become even better? Continuously asking this question and working toward new goals supports us in providing the best-quality care every day.”

Caring for patients also means caring for the planet

Dr. Sarah Ward, Assistant Professor, Division of Orthodpaedics, Unity Health and Vice-Chair, Quality, Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto gave the first keynote presentation, sharing insights on changes health-care organizations can make to reduce their environmental impact. With extensive experience implementing green initiatives in her own surgical practice, Dr. Ward has contributed to an upcoming revised version of “Greening ORs: An evidence-based guidance document for improving the environmental sustainability of Operating Rooms.” 

Dr. Ward discussed ways to reduce waste and energy use. She made a case for embedding a sustainability lens in any quality improvement project in health care and provided tips for organizations looking to embark on their own sustainability initiatives. 

The second keynote speaker, Emily Nicholas Angl, Patient and Public Engagement Consultant offered a patient and caregiver partner perspective to the conversation. She discussed how to engage with patient and family caregivers about sustainability and why their perspective matters when shaping change.

Celebrating the people who drive quality and safety forward

Alongside the keynote discussions and presentations, the event showcased quality improvement initiatives underway and celebrated quality and safety achievements at Sinai Health. “This event is an important opportunity for our people to disseminate their scholarly work and gain new knowledge.” says Dr. Soong.

Highlights from the event included:

• An in-person poster presentation session gave attendees the opportunity to circulate and discuss many different initiatives underway.
• The Awards of Excellence in Quality and Safety were presented in recognition of exceptional contributions to Quality and Safety. The Canadian Patient Safety Week Good Catch Awards were presented in recognition of individuals and teams who identified and reported a potential safety problem, before it could cause a safety incident.
• A new interactive activity invited attendees to write a personal patient safety pledge and add it to a display board. The pledges reflected individual commitments to actions that support a safer environment for Sinai Health’s patients and people.

By learning, sharing and taking action, we work towards safer care for every patient and a healthier future for our planet. 

Explore the symposium through a selection of photos below.