A Public Forum on Patient Safety
We Grieve, We Listen, We Learn was a powerful, emotional and thought-provoking evening for health care providers and members of the public. Dr. Paul Thomas, former Board Chair, Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety moderated the event and Dr. John Wade, Board Chair, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority gave introductory remarks. The evening featured Mr. John Lewis, Hamilton, Ontario, a registered nurse and co-author of the groundbreaking book, “Beware the Grieving Warrior.” Mr. Lewis shared how he lost his eleven-year-old daughter Claire as a result of a series of systemic and human errors committed during Claire’s post-operative recovery. John provided a detailed account of how the systems and the health care professionals working within these systems failed not only his daughter Claire, but his family as well. The experience led John to become a fierce advocate for the disclosure of adverse events, not only at the corporate level but also at the personal level by health care professionals.
After John’s presentation, he was joined by Dr. Rob Robson, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Dr. Stavros Prineas, New South Wales, Australia and the keynote at the Provincial Patient Safety Conference who took questions and addressed comments from the audience.
The goal of the evening was to provide a greater voice for patients and their families in patient safety initiatives as well as foster greater openness to discussing and ultimately learning from adverse events and unfortunate, sometimes tragic, events that happen to patients and their families in health care settings. Approximately 200 people attended the forum. Common themes from comments from the audience included the need for patients and families to be listened to and heard by health care providers, and for openness and transparency in health care interactions. Mr. Lewis’ book is available at leading booksellers.
