The Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety (MIPS) is an independent non-profit organization created in 2004 to stimulate and coordinate activities that have a positive impact on patient safety throughout Manitoba. MIPS works with many organizations and partners to raise awareness about patient safety issues and to promote best practices.
Consistent with its mandate, MIPS created a series entitled: We Listen, We Learn, We Evolve. The purpose of the series is to give Manitobans a greater voice on subjects that Institute members feel are of interest and importance to the public regarding patient safety in Manitoba’s healthcare system.
Removing Barriers for Recovery - We All Have a Hand in It, a Public Forum for Patient Safety in Mental Health, is the third forum in the We Listen, We Learn, We Evolve series. The previous forums, held in November 2007, and November, 2009, focused on the importance of disclosure and apologies to patients and their families when adverse healthcare events take place; and the need for a balance between autonomy and safety in caring for individuals in long term care settings, respectively. The Institute is continuing the series as an ongoing means of raising awareness of patient safety subjects and giving the public an opportunity to voice their concerns, opinions and suggestions. This third forum was perhaps the most interactive of all of the forums to date, with close to 20 audience members speaking up and having their comments and concerns listened to.
Removing Barriers for Recovery - We All Have a Hand in It, a Public Forum for Patient Safety in Mental Health, presented by the Manitoba Institute For Patient Safety (MIPS) and the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Manitoba (CRPNM), and supported by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and Manitoba Health, was held on May 5, 2010 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Sam Cohen Auditorium in the St. Boniface Research Centre, 351 Taché Ave in Winnipeg. The forum was free of charge, with no advance registration required, and was widely advertised to health care providers and the general public. The Removing Barriers for Recovery forum recognized that “we all have a hand in making mental health care safer”. The poster advertising the forum noted that “one in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in his or her lifetime“, and that “90% of Canadians who commit suicide have a diagnosable mental illness”. It asked: “Do stigmas about mental health affect patient safety?” and “What are the factors that affect patient safety in mental health?” The forum was billed as an excellent opportunity for service providers and policy makers to learn from and with persons with a lived experience of mental illness and their family members about barriers and facilitators to patient safety in mental illness and mental health agencies and programs.
Removing Barriers for Recovery - We All Have a Hand in It, a Public Forum for Patient Safety in Mental Health was broadcast live to twelve Manitoba Regional Health Authority locations outside of Winnipeg, i.e. Brandon, Dauphin, Flin Flon, Portage la Prairie, Winkler, Russell, Killarney, Thompson, The Pas, Selkirk, Swan River, and Steinbach. Participants from at least two of those locations participated in the discussion session along with Winnipeg based participants. Over 100 people, including mental health consumers, family members and friends of mental health consumers, mental health and patient safety advocates (including MIPS Board members), health care providers, and policy makers, had an opportunity to listen, talk and share their thoughts and views. Volunteers were also present to support and talk to people who felt they needed an ear and some extra support outside of their time speaking at the microphone.
The event was videotaped and is available to be viewed on the St. Boniface Research Centre website at http://www.sbrc.tv/. The tape can also be borrowed by calling the Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety (MIPS) office at (204) 927-6477.
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