Webinar

This webinar will help hospitals understand the purpose of a coroner’s investigation, explain the purpose and value of Regional Coroner’s Reviews, and examine relevant case studies with lessons learned for improving care.

Learning Objectives:

• The role of the death investigation system in examining and preventing medically-related deaths
• The importance of close collaboration between health care providers, hospitals and coroners in medical death investigations
• Ways in which the death investigation system can help enhance patient safety

Hospital administrators, patient safety and quality officers, patient relations personnel, risk managers and healthcare practitioners (e.g., physicians, nurses and pharmacists).

Date:	Thursday, January 31, 2013
Time:	09:00 am – 10:00 am PST 10:00 am – 11:00 am MST 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CST 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm AST 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm NST      Time zone map
Duration:	1 hour
Cost:	Funding support for this complimentary webinar is provided by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Health Canada.
Presenter:	Dr. Dan Cass, MD FRCPC Deputy Chief Coroner - Investigations Chair - Patient Safety Review Committee Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services Office of the Chief Coroner

Contact Us: webinars@ismp-canada.org

Speaker

Dr. Dan Cass, MD FRCPC Dr. Dan Cass completed the Royal College Residency Program in Emergency Medicine in Toronto in 1993. He worked as a staff Emergency Physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto for 16 years, from 1993 to 2009, for 10 of which he was Chief of Emergency Medicine. He joined the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario in 2009 as a Regional Supervising Coroner. In May of 2012, Dr. Cass was appointed Deputy Chief Coroner - Investigations. He is also the Chair of the Patient Safety Review Committee of the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario. He is an Associate Professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and is a Core Member of the U of T Centre for Patient Safety.

Background

Investigations of sudden and unexpected deaths in hospitals are challenging for many reasons. They often involve a medically complex patient; there may be allegations by the family of medical error or negligence related to care; and health care providers may perceive that the subsequent investigation is looking to find fault or ascribe blame. These deaths typically invoke a significant emotional response, which may be experienced not only by family, but also by care providers and the investigators themselves.

The Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario has a mandate of public and patient safety. A number of Death Review Committees have been established by the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario as a means of better understanding the circumstances of certain deaths, and to use this knowledge to generate recommendations to help improve public and patient safety and prevent future deaths in similar circumstances. Four of these Committees have a direct relationship with the health care setting. In Ontario, all coroners are physicians with clinical expertise and experience that greatly facilitates the investigation of these deaths.

Contact Information