A new report shows that the rate of harm to hospital patients in the Canadian health-care system is growing, as 1 in 17 patients was harmed during their hospital stay in 2022–23, research by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) says.
CIHI’s Hospital Harm report, released on Oct. 19, looks at harm caused to patients “that could be potentially prevented by implementing known evidence-informed practices.”
Research shows that the rate of harm for hospital patients increased along with the rates of staff absenteeism, overtime, and use of agency staff. The rate rose to 6 percent in 2021–22 and 2022–23 from 5.9 percent in 2020–21 after having remained stable between 5.3 percent and 5.4 percent since 2014.
That works out to 146,000 out of 2.4 million visits, Kate Parson, program lead for health human resources at CIHI, told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.
Ms. Parson said that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number was lower and did not fluctuate as much.
“It was previously quite stable at around just over 5 percent,” she said.
The report says hospitals have seen a 20 percent increase in pneumonia and urinary tract infections and a 25 percent increase in aspiration pneumonia, which is a lung infection caused when a patient inhales saliva, food, or other liquid. There was also an increase of over 50 percent in pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores.
“Harm is most often the result of a chain reaction, a failure of the system at multiple stages that makes it difficult to provide proper care,” the report said.
Staff Well-Being Linked to Patient Safety
Ms. Parson said CIHI gathered the data to examine the connection between staff well-being and patient safety.“The big piece that this report examined that came out today, looked at specifically some types of harms where there’s a link between staff well-being and staffing and patient safety,” Ms. Parson said.
“We put these numbers out as kind of information to drive change,” she said.
One of the reasons cited for the increase in patient harm was staffing challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In 2021–2022, nurses and other health care providers working in hospital inpatient units across Canada logged more sick time and overtime hours compared with the previous year,” the report authors said.
Report statistics show a 17 percent increase in reported sick time in 2021–22 from the previous year for nurses and other hospital inpatient staff.
Over 14 million overtime hours were logged for those units in 2021–22, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, the report said.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) said that nurses have been speaking out about issues that make their jobs difficult even before the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic challenged hospital staff on many fronts, making the delivery of care difficult for health-care teams,” Amber Morley told The Epoch Times in an email.
“The high rates of overtime, vacancies, shortages, and unsustainable workloads have had a direct impact on nurses’ ability to deliver care in the way that they believe they should,” Ms. Morley added.
“These situations have created distress for nurses, increased levels of burnout, and resulted in increases of hospital harm events that are easily prevented with these contributing factors resolved.”
CIHI also found that the volume of purchased hours worked by nurses and other health-care providers from outside agencies increased from 850,000 in 2020–21 to 1.5 million in 2021–22, an 80 percent rise. However, the report says that the hours purchased and worked by these outside workers only represent about 1 percent of the total volume of hours worked in hospital inpatient units.
Supportive Work Environments
CIHI’s report notes that hospital patients are treated by a variety of health-care professionals and that harm prevention “requires awareness and action from personnel of all levels.”Moreover, “Supportive work environments are key for effective team-based hospital care and patient well-being, now and in the future,” the report authors wrote, suggesting strategies such as having greater flexibility for work-life balance, mental health supports, full staffing, and the right mix of providers.
Ms. Morley said the CNA supports making adjustments to create a better work environment for nurses.
“The Canadian Nurses Association has continued to advocate for a multifaceted approach including the retention of nurses,” she said.
Ms. Parson said CIHI is interested in tracking changes hospitals make to see how well they work.
“As a data organization, what we’re supportive of is measuring the effectiveness of those things in order to see what’s most effective.”
