In this section :

What the Public Needs to Know About Vanessa's Law

The Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act, also known as Vanessa's Law, underpins drug and medical device safety in Canada by strengthening Health Canada's ability to collect information and to take quick and appropriate action when a serious health risk is identified.  

As of December 16, 2019, it became mandatory for hospitals to report serious adverse drug reactions (serious ADRs) and medical device incidents (MDIs) to Health Canada.  

Presentation modules for patients and the public 

Patients for Patient Safety Canada created a presentation module to help patients and the public understand and promote the reporting of serious adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents. You can use this module in your presentations and other information-sharing activities.  

Download the patient module

The Patients for Patient Safety Canada presentation was adapted from four core modules developed in collaboration with Health Canada. 

Access the core modules

Please share this webpage with anyone who you think needs to know about the requirements for reporting to improve safety.      

If you have questions about how to use these educational materials for your specific audience please contact info@ismpcanada.ca or info@hec-esc.ca. 

If you have questions about Vanessa's Law and the mandatory reporting requirements, please contact hc.canada.vigilance.sc@canada.ca.  

Why we need Vanessa’s Law  

A blog by Brendan Gribbons of Lower Mainland Biomedical Engineering   

Consistent voluntary reporting followed by a thorough multi-incident analysis quickly identified a defect in IV tubing – which resulted in a voluntary global recall of over 100 million IV tubing sets. Numerous alerts were generated regarding the uncontrolled flow, including from Health Canada and the manufacturer. This success story from British Columbia shows how Vanessa’s law can prevent harm.  

You can read the blog here. Note: this blog is in English only.