December 3, 2024
During Canadian Patient Safety Week (October 28 to November 1), London Health Sciences Centre celebrated the work and dedication of many team members who all have a role to play in patient safety. With over 40 nominations for the Patient Safety Champion Awards, this year’s recipients were selected from a highly competitive group. The recipients are:
- Individual Award: Navreet Dhillon
- Leader Award: Christina Low
- Physician Award: Dr. Jennifer Mandzia
- Team Award: Orthogeriatric Hip Unit at Victoria Hospital
- Patient Partner Award: Deb Beaupre
Below are highlights of the work the recipients have done to improve patient safety at LHSC.
Individual Award: Navreet Dhillon
Navreet Dhillon is a Registered Nurse from the acute care medicine unit, and currently the interim manager for the Clinical Neurological Sciences ambulatory clinics at University Hospital. She is also the nursing lead for the Clinical Teaching Unit Quality Improvement Education and Research. She was recognized for her collaboration to identify opportunities and eliminate barriers to getting patients out of their beds for activities such as meals, which helps prevent an increase in risk of falling and development of hospital induced delirium.
Dhillon received this award for the implementation and testing of various change initiatives on the medicine units, and routinely collecting data for the initiatives, ensuring continuous quality improvement.
“It was an honour and surprise to receive the nomination and the award,” says Dhillon. “I have been working hard to improve patient care and safety, but it’s really a team effort. It's not something one person can achieve by themselves.” Dhillon credits her whole Clinical Teaching Unit - Quality Improvement Education, Innovation, & Research (C- QuEIR) team and medicine leadership for the award, in particular the collaboration with Personal Support Workers, other nursing professionals, and a patient partners.
Leader Award: Christina Low
Leader Award, recognizes and celebrates a formal leader at LHSC who embeds all patient safety best practices into their work and encourages their team members to do the same. Christina Low, this year’s recipient is a manager for inpatient surgery at Victoria Hospital.
In the past year, Low has introduced daily Safety Huddles on her units. These proactive, short meetings aim to prevent patient injuries by fostering team collaboration and risk awareness. These huddles focus on addressing the specific needs and safety concerns of individual patients, ensuring that each patient receives personalized attention to prevent injury.
The entire care team is involved in these daily safety discussions, fostering a collaborative culture where everyone contributes to patient safety efforts. As a result, the Victoria Hospital B9-200 units have seen a measurable reduction in patient injuries, and staff have gained valuable education and training to further mitigate potential risks.
“I’m very humbled to receive the award. It’s thanks to the staff nurses on the unit who helped implement and jump on board to chair the huddles,” says Low. “It’s their support that has really helped the huddles succeed.”
Physician Award: Dr. Jennifer Mandzia
This award recognizes and celebrates a physician or resident at LHSC who has demonstrated a passion for and commitment to patient safety from the physician’s perspective. This year’s recipient is Dr. Jennifer Mandzia, the Medical Director Southwestern Ontario Stroke Network and LHSC Stroke Program for her transformation of stroke care at LHSC.
A key player in the creation of the stroke protocol process, and the development of a comprehensive stroke unit, one of her most impactful achievements was the reduction of door-to-needle times for stroke patients from 66 minutes in 2013 to under 30 minutes in 2024. This was achieved in collaboration with Dr. Anita Florendo-Cumbermack and Kendra Cotton, a quality specialist, in Clinical Neurological Sciences (CNS),
This achievement was the culmination of ten years of work which included working with paramedics to train them on stroke identification, collaborating closely with Emergency Department staff and neuro-intervention teams to streamline processes for rapid assessment and management of acute stroke patients, and developing "Stroke Rounds" to foster learning from real cases, ensuring continuous improvement in patient care.
Dr. Mandzia’s approach to stroke care is centered on the patient, reducing treatment times and emphasizing collaboration across all levels of care to ensure patients receive the best possible outcomes.
“Receiving this award means a lot as we’ve been working on this for ten years,” says Dr. Mandzia. “The support of all the teams and leadership has been critical to this success.”
Team Award: Orthogeriatric Hip Unit at Victoria Hospital
The interdisciplinary team, including nurse educators, nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, physicians, physiotherapists, and social workers was able to significantly improve outcomes for older patients aged 65 and over, arriving in the Emergency Department with hip fractures. This was accomplished by improving the interdisciplinary care coordination between their respective departments including emergency department, geriatric medicine anesthesia, and orthopaedic surgery.
By working together to evaluate their practices against the Ontario Health Hip Fracture quality standards, they were able to identify areas that needed improvement and implement processes that improved overall outcomes. This included clearly articulating each team member’s role and maintaining consistent engagement among team members and their executive sponsors.
“This has been a passion project and everyone who has participated in this project has been so supportive,” says Dr. Jenny Thain, Geriatric Lead for LHSC’s Victoria Hospital Hip Fracture Unit. Kaila Masalsky, a nurse practitioner agrees. “ Patients with hip fractures often have multiple comorbidities and complex geriatric syndromes, requiring a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to prevent complications and ensure optimal recovery,” says Masalsky. “Collaboration among health-care professionals is essential for improving outcomes and reducing the risk of future fractures.”
Patient Partner Award: Deb Beaupre
This is the second year for the Patient Partner category. This award recognizes the significant role Patient Partners play in the development and advocacy of LHSC’s patient safety initiatives.
The Patient Partner Award recipient is someone who has demonstrated a passion for and commitment to patient safety from the patient’s perspective. The 2024 recipient is Deb Beaupre, a Patient Partner working with LHSC’s Regional Renal Program.
She provides a wealth of experience from her own personal journey through the renal program as well as bringing the voices of other patients she has engaged with and has been fundamental in shaping a novel patient pathway vision that will be implemented across the renal program.
Beaupre shares feedback with staff and physicians about how it felt as a patient to receive education and information about her kidney disease and understands how the patient's experience can help inform system change.
“When the Renal Program’s leadership said they wanted to nominate me, I was truly honoured,” says Beaupre. “To me, it’s about HOPE - Hearing Our Patient’s Experience. Knowing that change can be made because of the patient’s voice and we matter, is powerful. I’m passionate about empowering patients.”