Patient Safety

Safety Learning Summaries

What is a Safety Learning Summary (SLS)?

A Safety Learning Summary (SLS) is a brief summary of the findings and recommendations from a completed critical incident (CI) review with identifying information removed, or modified, in order to circulate widely to health care providers and organizations.  The goal is to promote and share learning from reviews of critical incidents.

When are Learning Summaries created?

While Patient Safety receives several hundred CI reports each year, SLS are only created for CIs where there is system-wide learning potential.  Learning Summaries also strive to provide enough information to stimulate learning in other units, facilities and regions across the country, while respecting patient and provider confidentiality.

Find a Safety Learning Summary

Let us know what you think

Your feedback is welcome.  If you are involved in the health care field, please tell us if the SLS have been helpful, or share with us your experiences in transferring the knowledge gained through these CI reviews into current practices within your facility / site / setting.

If you are a member of the public, we welcome your comments, or let us know if these summaries have helped you better understand the health care system.