In this section :

Patient and Family Resource: Disclosure Principles

Patients and families expect honest, empathetic and respectful communication with their healthcare providers, especially when harm has occurred. Open disclosure helps the patient and their family, the healthcare providers involved and the organization heal and learn from the harm, which helps make the system safer for all.

The rights of patients and their families

When patients have been harmed, they expect a sincere apology and an explanation of what has happened. They also need to see that the organization has accepted responsibility and is initiating changes and implementing actions to help prevent the harm from happening again. 

Patients and families believe that when harm may have occurred, they have the right to: 

• be informed about the potential harm 
• a comprehensive and timely investigation of the facts 
• an opportunity to provide input into the investigation 
• empathy, understanding, and support during what might be a very stressful time 
• honest, open and transparent disclosure of the facts 

Meaningful actions for patients and families

When it has been found that harm has occurred, the patient and their family expect: 

• to be fully informed about the harm in a timely manner 
• an apology in a timely, respectful, and sincere manner 
• acknowledgement of accountability and responsibility 
• to receive a complete and comprehensive investigative report about the adverse event and to have these reports shared with appropriate individuals or agencies 
• to be kept informed of how the harm will be prevented from happening again 

• to be provided with opportunities to be part of the improvement process 
• to be offered fair and timely compensation 

Get in touch

If we can assist you in educating your staff and physicians about what is important to patients and their families when disclosing harm, please contact us at info@hec-esc.ca Patients for Patient Safety Canada is a patient led program funded by the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (now HEC) with the vision of making every patient safe. 

You can read more about disclosure, and what families can do to support full disclosure, in this highlights document from a Patients for Patient Safety Canada knowledge transfer session. 

Highlights

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