Canada’s only comprehensive, flexible online learning program for patient safety professionals. 
About the Canadian Patient Safety Program
The Canadian Patient Safety Program, an exclusive CHA Learning program, was developed after extensive national stakeholder consultation and in partnership with subject matter experts and patient family partners across Canada.
This new program replaces the now-retired Canadian Patient Safety Officer Course (CPSO) which was jointly developed and delivered with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (now part of Healthcare Excellence Canada) and retired in spring 2022.
The Canadian Patient Safety Program is Canada’s only comprehensive, flexible online learning program for patient safety professionals.
This program equips aspiring, new and existing patient safety and quality specialists with the required knowledge and skills to improve safety for and with patients, families and staff and to enable safety culture change.
Supported by expert patient safety coaches from across Canada, learners will also benefit from regular opportunities for engagement, sharing and support amongst peers and faculty as well as case examples and practical activities throughout.
The program includes monthly virtual sessions, focused on patient safety topics that complement the curriculum and are facilitated by expert faculty and guests.
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This program is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the University of Ottawa’s Office of Continuing Professional Development. You may claim a maximum of 120.00 hours (credits are automatically calculated). |
Why Take This Program?
• Comprehensive, specialized patient safety learning program
• Ideal for those leading patient safety work as well as clinicians, allied health professionals, educators, managers with a focus on patient safety and improvement
• Interactive e-learning format
• Applied activities and reflections throughout
• Enrol anytime, learn at your own pace
• Supported by dedicated and expert faculty coaches from across Canada
• Opportunities to interact online with peers and faculty
• Some courses available individually (see curriculum section below)
• Learners may be eligible for exemptions based on prior learning. Please contact us directly to inquire about prior learning assessment.
Note: Exemptions reduce coursework requirements but do not impact the tuition fee. Students with exemptions will still be provided access to all learning materials.
- There are no prerequisites for this program, but a background in or active role in healthcare is recommended
- Approximately 120 hours
- Take up to 12 months to complete, at your own pace
- $2295 CAD
- $2495 International
Note: Alberta residents are eligible for a 10% tuition discount off the whole program as a result of our partnership with the Health Quality Council of Alberta. This discount will be automatically available during checkout.
By the end of this program, learners will be able to:
- Explain core principles and the evolution of patient safety within the Canadian healthcare context.
- Analyze how patient safety incidents arise within complex healthcare systems, including the influence of human factors, system design, and organizational conditions.
- Apply structured approaches to patient safety incident management.
- Apply quality improvement methods to safety improvement initiatives, including the use of improvement frameworks, tools, and measurement strategies.
- Demonstrate effective communication and interprofessional teamwork practices that support patient safety.
- Contribute to and evaluate a culture of safety within healthcare settings, including understanding just culture principles, organizational enablers, and individual roles in shaping safety culture.
- Engage patients, families, and caregivers as partners in care and safety improvement by applying principles of people-centred care.
There are seven courses in the program. It is recommended, but not mandatory, to take the courses in order. Each course has one graded assignment that is completed at the end of the content, as well as other ungraded activities and opportunities for reflection throughout.
The below outline is not exhaustive but an overview of main topics covered in each course.
Course 1: Foundations of Patient Safety
- Introduction to patient safety in Canada
- Brief history of patient safety
- Core terms, definitions and concepts
- Harm and safety events – how they occur
- Link between safety, quality and risk
- Complexity and complex adaptive systems
- Safety Competencies
- Safety Frameworks
- Accreditation and standards as levers for safety
- Regulatory and legislative contexts
- Current state of patient safety in Canada
- Current issues in patient safety in Canada
- Staff safety
- Patient family partnership
- Equity and cultural safety
- Organizational roles and responsibilities in patient safety
Course 2: Safety Culture and Organizational Enablers
- Patient safety culture and just culture
- Learning organizations
- Impact of culture on safety and safety outcomes
- Actions that promote patient safety culture
- Role of leaders and governors in safety culture
- Safety culture measurement and monitoring
- Enablers of patient safety culture
- Organizational resilience and reliability
- Change management and change leadership
- Staff Engagement
- Safety in organizational strategy
- Staff engagement and psychological safety
- Current issues and impacts on staff engagement and safety
Course 3: Partnering with Patients, Families
- Foundations of people-centred care
- Engagement and experience
- Impact of harm on experience and outcomes
- Importance of partnership in patient safety
- Patient and family/care partner as part of the safety team
- Benefits and impacts of partnership on safety and improvement
- Cultural safety and harm
- Equity in engagement
- Engagement frameworks, methods and approaches
- Experience-based co-design in safety improvement
Course 4: Teamwork and Communication
- Principles of effective teamwork and collaboration
- Characteristics and behaviours of effective teams
- Silo-based systems and impact on safety
- Patients and families as part of the team
- Teamwork in safety event prevention and improvement
- Learning from incidents as a team
- Developing trust as a team
- Impact of communication on safety
- Effective communication
- Communication models and tools in healthcare
- Team behaviours that negatively impact safety
- Having difficult conversations
Course 5: Human Factors in Healthcare Safety (also available individually)
- Human factors engineering and history in healthcare
- Human factors in safety incidents
- Cognitive bias and impacts on decision making
- Mitigation strategies for human error and cognitive bias
- Human factors evaluation methods
- Human factors design principles for safer systems
- Usability analysis
Course 6: Safety Incident Management (also available individually)
This course will comprehensively walk learners through a consistent methodology for reviewing, analyzing and learning from incidents in their organization, using a case-based approach to application.
- Anticipating, identifying, reducing and mitigating hazards and risks
- Accident theories and application to healthcare
- Classification of incidents
- Error attitudes
- Life cycle of a patient safety incident
- Safety culture in incident analysis
- Systems based approaches to incident analysis and management
- Immediate actions after an incident
- Disclosure
- Support for providers involved in incidents
- Legislative implications
- Incident analysis approaches and step-by-step process
- Tools and techniques for using data in analyzing incidents
- Learning from incidents
- Writing and presenting recommendations for safety improvement
Course 7: Safety Improvement Methods
- Introduction to healthcare quality and quality improvement
- Dimensions of quality
- Levels of quality (individual, process/team, organizational, system)
- Fundamentals of quality improvement (QI)
- QI methodologies
- Innovation in improvement
- Measuring and monitoring quality and safety
- QI Tools
- The Ottawa Hospital’s Health Quality Innovation Framework – in depth
- Defining the problem
- Analyzing the situation
- Testing and trialing improvement
- Locking in improvement
- Evaluation and spread
Faculty
When you enrol, you will be supported by the faculty member of your choice, who will provide guidance, feedback, and expertise to support your success. Explore the profiles below to find the faculty member who best aligns with your professional development goals.
Sandy Critchley
Sandy Critchley
Sandy Critchley is a regulated healthcare professional with more than 20 years of experience advancing patient safety, quality, and person-centred care across physiotherapy, acute care, long-term care, adult day programs, paramedic services, and municipal healthcare. She has held leadership roles supporting quality improvement, risk management, and the delivery of safe, high-quality care across diverse healthcare settings. Sandy holds a Master of Health Studies Leadership from Athabasca University, a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy, and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology from Western University. She has completed advanced professional development in patient safety, quality improvement, risk management, emergency management, and healthcare leadership.
Learn MoreDr. Amir Ginzburg
Dr. Amir Ginzburg
Dr. Amir Ginzburg is Executive Vice President, Quality, Risk and Patient Experience at Trillium Health Partners and a specialist in Internal Medicine, with extensive leadership experience advancing healthcare quality, patient safety, and clinical practice. He also serves as Clinical Quality Provincial Lead for Ontario Health, supporting quality improvement and patient safety initiatives across the province. Dr. Ginzburg completed his medical training and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto. He also holds the Canadian Patient Safety Officer Certificate and has contributed to quality improvement initiatives spanning acute care, primary care, community care, and long-term care.
Learn MoreSamantha Hamilton
Samantha Hamilton
Samantha Hamilton is Vice-President, Strategy, Quality and Performance at Bruyere Health, with more than 25 years of experience leading quality, patient safety, and risk management initiatives across the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics, home care, long-term care, and acute care sectors. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology, a Master of Health Administration, and a Master's Certificate in Risk Management, and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Learn MoreShannon Moore
Shannon Moore
Shannon Moore is the Director of Clinical Standards and Operational Support for Shared Health Emergency Response Services in Manitoba, where she oversees paramedic clinical education, quality assurance, wellness, and recruitment for the provincial emergency response system. With more than 25 years of experience in ground and air emergency medical services across several Canadian provinces, she has specialized in leadership, patient safety, clinical quality improvement, accreditation, and evidence-informed practice. Shannon has extensive experience spanning emergency medical services, acute care, and provincial healthcare systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Health and Exercise Physiology from the University of Calgary, a Quality Management Diploma from the University of Manitoba, and a Certificate in Patient Safety & Quality from the University of Calgary.
Learn MoreJen Plant
Jen Plant
Jen Plant is Vice President, Clinical Services at Queensway Carleton Hospital and a Registered Respiratory Therapist with nearly 30 years of healthcare experience across acute care and long-term care. She has extensive expertise in healthcare quality, patient safety, workforce development, and health system improvement. Jen holds a Master of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety from the University of Toronto's Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Throughout her career, she has led transformative initiatives that have expanded clinical programs, strengthened organizational performance, and improved the patient and provider experience.
Learn MoreDanielle Simpson
Danielle Simpson
Danielle Simpson is Director, Strategy, System & Quality Improvement at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), with more than 15 years of experience advancing quality improvement, patient safety, and health system transformation across hospitals, regional health authorities, and provincial healthcare organizations. Prior to joining CHEO, she held leadership roles with The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, Vancouver Coastal Health, and the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council. Danielle holds a Master of Public Health and is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. In 2021, she was selected as one of two Canadians to participate in the International Hospital Federation's Young Executive Leaders Program.
Learn MorePauline Warden
Pauline Warden
Pauline Warden is Director of Quality, Safety, Risk, Patient Experience and Professional Practice at Ross Memorial Hospital, bringing more than 35 years of clinical and healthcare leadership experience across cancer care and acute care settings in both the United Kingdom and Canada. A Radiation Therapist by profession, she holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Quality from Queen's University and a Bachelor of Science in Radiography from Queen Margaret University. Pauline also holds a Lean Green Belt and a Specialist Certificate in the Fundamentals of External Evaluation Surveying from ISQua. She is a surveyor with Accreditation Canada, supporting healthcare quality improvement through peer assessment and mentorship.
Learn MoreLori Webel-Edgar
Lori Webel-Edgar
Lori Webel-Edgar is Primary Care Collaboration Lead at the Couchiching Ontario Health Team and a Registered Nurse with more than 38 years of experience across acute care, community health, public health, and health policy. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, organizational development, advocacy, and leading initiatives that strengthen person-centred care, quality, safety, and health system performance. Lori holds a Master of Nursing from Athabasca University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from McMaster University. She has also completed advanced professional development in leadership, patient safety, health law, Indigenous cultural safety, and quality improvement.
Learn MoreCanadian Patient Safety Program Quick FAQ
- What will I achieve at the completion of this program?
At the end of this program you will receive a certificate from CHA Learning.
- Do I need to have basic quality improvement knowledge to take this program?
No, however, it is recommended that learners have some foundational knowledge in order to be successful. If you do not have this foundation, you could consider our Foundations of Healthcare Quality course first. Some foundational knowledge will be refreshed at the beginning of the Patient Safety Improvement course.
- After I finish this program, can I use the title Patient Safety Officer?
At this time in Canada, there is no formal, professional designation for patient safety specialists.
Enrol in the Canadian Patient Safety Program Today!
Enrol today and gain the required skills and knowledge to improve safety for and with patients, families, and staff.
Related Programs and Courses
Foundations of Healthcare Quality
Health Quality Innovation Program
People-Centred Care Leadership Program
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