Focusing the safety spotlight: How safety intelligence can inform systemic patient safety initiatives

This panel discussion at the 2021 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Healthcare Symposium (HCS) touched upon several topics related to actioning safety intelligence to improve patient safety. The panel had representation from both Canada and England across a broad range of human factors expertise in healthcare: from the perspective of academic research, operational hospital work, patient safety incident investigation and national healthcare policy, and a nationwide healthcare liability insurer. The panelists began with defining safety intelligence and distinguishing between safety intelligence and safety wisdom. The panel provided an engaging and insightful discussion on several topics including data collection, analysis and actioning upon the insights gained. In addition, the panel discussed strategies for demonstrating value in improving patient safety, and emphasised the importance of aligning one’s work with existing initiatives in the organisation, as well as the importance of collaborating with various stakeholders across the system to affect meaningful change.