The HQCA helps validate findings in new compassion study

We are proud to play a role in a new study published in the online journal, BMC Emergency Medicine, that identifies compassion as the greatest predictor of patients’ overall quality ratings, surpassing other traditional factors such as wait times, clinical communication, and pain and symptom management.

The HQCA in partnership with University of Calgary Nursing professor and director of the Compassion Research Lab Dr. Shane Sinclair, PhD, and Innovate Calgary, completed a large study measuring the impact of compassion in the 14 busiest provincial emergency departments.

Compassion was measured using the SCQ (Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire), a valid and reliable tool developed by Sinclair and his team which includes University of Calgary Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts doctoral candidate Harrison Boss, and Dr. Cara MacInnis, adjunct associate professor, University of Calgary and professor, Acadia University.

The study participants were surveyed shortly after being discharged from the ED where 50 per cent of them went home and 50 per cent were admitted to hospital. They all completed a version of the Emergency Department Patient Experience of Care survey by the HQCA along with 15 additional questions from the SCQ.

“This work has not only advanced our understanding of compassion but also affirmed it as a key indicator of health service quality and people-centred care,” says Markus Lahtinen, HQCA’s senior director of health system analytics. 

“Measuring compassion fosters a more empathetic and supportive environment, which can enhance the overall quality of care provided. As well, quantifying compassion helps identify areas for improvement, ensuring that health-care professionals maintain high standards of patient interaction and emotional support.”

Part of the HQCA’s mandate is to assess and report on patient-reported experiences with healthcare services in Alberta, for the purposes of quality improvement. Going forward, our survey tools will now include, where appropriate, the Sinclair compassion questions as an important measure of patient experience, a critical aspect of our overall assessment of healthcare quality in Alberta.

HQCA announces new Board Chair

We are pleased to announce Jacquelyn Colville has been appointed as the new Board Chair for the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA), effective May 21, 2023.

Jacquelyn Colville was first appointed to the HQCA Board in April 2021. She previously served as an external member of the board from 2017 to 2021, and was the Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee. She is an experienced executive and also a leader in the community, having served on a number of boards working to improve the health and well-being of Albertans. Ms. Colville holds the ICD.D designation and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA).

The HQCA looks forward to continuing to work with Ms. Colville, as she supports our mandate to improve patient safety, person-centred care, and health service quality across the province.

A sincere thank you to Brent Windwick, who has served on the HQCA Board as Chair since January 2020.

Learn more about Ms. Colville and the rest of the HQCA Board of Directors.

HQCA will lead review of EMS response to dog attack

At the request of Alberta Health Services (AHS), pursuant to section 15 (2) of the Health Quality Council of Alberta Act, the HQCA will conduct an independent review of the EMS response to the June 5 dog attack in Calgary.

The announcement from AHS is available here: News Releases | Alberta Health Services

The HQCA announces the 2022 Patient Experience Award recipients

May 4, 2022 – Today, the HQCA honours healthcare organizations and professionals for improving the patient and family experience during another changing and challenging year in healthcare.

“The pandemic has continued to place extraordinary pressures on service providers, yet many have shown a commitment to continually improving patient and family experiences,” notes Sue Peters, Chair of the HQCA’s Patient and Family Advisory Committee and a member of the final selection panel.

“Once again we see teams listening to patients and families, taking action to improve, and empowering patients and families to guide their own care,” adds Charlene McBrien-Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of the HQCA. “This is at the heart of person-centred care. These awards bring awareness to great work being done across Alberta to improve the patient experience, and show how the patient and family voice can make the healthcare system better.” 

Click here to read about the 2022 recipients.

Click here to read the news release.

Public Information Campaign – Working with Your Healthcare Team

Patient and doctor, patient and pharmacist and patient and physiotherapist

The HQCA has launched a new public information campaign to empower Albertans to take an active role in their healthcare. This campaign aligns with HQCA’s legislated mandate to promote and improve person-centred care.

As part of this campaign, we have provided several information materials for individuals, patients and families such as tips for before, during, and after a visit with their healthcare team, questions to ask, and a symptom tracker. Explore the information and resources available here.

Healthcare providers looking to support their patients are encouraged to visit this page.

Feedback

Please take a moment to provide your feedback using the survey at the bottom of this page.

If you have any questions about the campaign, please contact us.

HQCA.ca gets a refresh

New look, same great information. Welcome to the HQCA’s newly redesigned website.

Our website is a valuable platform for us to share resources, survey results, new studies, HQCA news and more with Albertans and our healthcare partners. We want to make sure that all this information is accessible, easy to find, and up-to-date, so we are excited to share the new and improved HQCA.ca!

Thank you for your input

We asked for input throughout the process to help guide the development of the new site. We conducted a feedback survey, held an information sorting activity to help with the website organization, and completed user testing. Thank you to everyone who participated, we appreciate your input.

What is new?

When you visit the new site, you will notice a new overall design and that some of the content has moved to different locations. We hope that these changes will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Here are a few new features to check out:

Let us know what you think

Please let us know if you are finding the new site easier to use! We also want to hear from you if you have any concerns, or simply cannot find a page that may be in a new location. Also, keep an eye out for a follow-up survey seeking feedback on the new site in the coming months!

New study: EMS Key Performance Indicators

The Minister of Health has requested that the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) consult with stakeholders to make recommendations for a comprehensive suite of key performance indicators (KPIs) to inform the delivery of emergency medical services (EMS) across Alberta.

The HQCA is engaging with various health system partners across the province, including patients and family members, about their perspectives related to provincial KPIs. Their feedback will enable the HQCA to compile a list of proposed KPIs that align with Alberta’s Quality Matrix for Health (link to quality matrix page), and Quadruple Aim dimensions (patient experience, provider experience, patient outcomes, costs of care). 

The scope of this project includes most aspects of the EMS system in Alberta, including ground and air ambulance, inter-facility transfers, and EMS dispatch.

A report with the recommended provincial KPIs will be submitted to the Minister of Health in 2022.

2020-21 annual report now available

This past year has been eventful for the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) with a CEO change, a global pandemic, and a major update to our legislated mandate.

We invite you to read our new annual report to see how well the HQCA team responded in 2020-21.

The report, which includes our activities, accomplishments, and financial statements, is available here.

“In a year of major change, the HQCA has remained laser focused on our mandate – promoting and improving patient safety, person-centred care, and quality healthcare for all Albertans,” says Brent Windwick, Board Chair.

Health Quality Council of Alberta Recognized as One of Alberta’s Top Employers

The HQCA is honoured to be recognized as one of Alberta’s top employers for 2019, making it the third year in a row that the HQCA has received this prestigious honour. Alberta’s Top 75 Employers recognizes employers that lead their industries in offering amazing places to work.

Alberta’s Top 75 Employers uses a variety of criterion to evaluate the organizations, including physical workspace, work atmosphere and social, health, financial and family benefits, vacation and time off, employee communications, performance management, training and skills development and community involvement. All of these factors work together to make the HQCA a great place to work.

Some of the reasons cited that the HQCA was selected were because of its generous healthcare spending account and vacation allowance.

“I’m personally proud of and believe that beyond our benefits and vacation, we deserve this recognition because of the commitment our employees have made to work as a high-performing team, and their dedication to our social contract,” says Andrew Neuner, Chief Executive Officer.

“Thank you to all of our employees for everything they do on a day-to-day basis supporting each other, working hard, and ultimately contributing to healthcare improvements for all Albertans.”

To view all of the winners and the detailed stories of each organization click here.

Just Culture- Building trust for better patient care

Can you imagine a culture where human errors and threats to patient safety are seen as opportunities to learn about weaknesses in the system? No blame – just learning and improving patient care.

In a just culture, healthcare workers and patients or family members feel comfortable to report errors and threats to patients’ safety. This information is used to learn and make changes to the system to improve patients’ safety.

That’s exactly what the just culture initiative is meant to do. We’re excited to announce a new, shared Alberta resource – the Just Culture website. Initiated by Health Quality Network (HQN) members, this collaborative project supports the development and adoption of a just culture within Alberta’s health system. Just culture practices are already in place at leading organizations such as Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health.  A working group leveraged this work, spending many months creating a common understanding of what just culture is and developing resources to help organizations establish their own frameworks for just culture.

The just culture initiative will foster an atmosphere of trust, where people feel safe discussing quality and safety concerns without fear of blame. When something does go wrong with patient care, healthcare workers will be supported and treated fairly.

The website is a shared resource for healthcare professionals, policy makers, educators, patients and families to learn more about just culture.

What is on this website?

  • A list of organizations committed to creating a just culture, and by extension, a safety culture in our healthcare system.
  • Information about just culture and its relationship to a safety culture.
  • Information about just culture for different healthcare stakeholders including patients and families.
  • Resources that can help organizations establish a framework and actions to support a just culture.
  • An approach and tools for the fair assessment of people involved in a patient safety incident that considers their actions in context (future addition).

Special thanks to the just culture working group for their hard work and collaboration in putting this content together:

  • AHS – Bruce MacLeod and Mona Sikal
  • Covenant Health – Jon Popowich and Owen Heisler
  • CARNA – Shelley MacGregor
  • CPSA – Mike Caffaro
  • STARS – Shannon Moore, Corinne Edwards
  • HQCA – Dr. Ward Flemons, Dale Wright

We invite you to check out the new site and share with others so that we can create a common culture across our health system in the pursuit of safer patient care.