Building Trust: How Communication Drives Quality of Care in Ontario

A recent provincial report sheds light on how issues in communication have caused an increase in patient complaints. The QIPS program is addressing these issues and helping professionals spearhead systemic patient-centred improvements with a focus on quality of care.

By: Marielle Boutin

Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman’s annual report, released in November 2025, noted there were nearly 5000 complaints filled between April 2024 and March 2025. This marked a ten per cent increase from the prior year.

Complaints ranged from patients feeling unsupported to broader issues with communication, safety, and overall quality of care.

Christine Shea, Director of IHPME’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) program, said in a recent CBC article that issues about quality of care can be related to communication breakdowns, a challenge that the QIPS program addresses.

“From the start of the program, we emphasize that collaboration is central to the success of improvement work and a fundamental component of effective collaboration is expert communication.”

The program’s curriculum extends beyond theory and tools, reinforcing the importance of meaningful relationships as the foundation of sustainable improvements in healthcare.

“The cornerstone of relationships is dialogue, and we focus on teaching effective dialogue skills to lead and manage improvement initiatives.”

The program is designed for all healthcare professionals in every sector, allowing them to learn together while providing the unique opportunity to develop and implement their own comprehensive project in their workplace while undertaking the 12-month degree.

According to Shea, a key piece of project success is students’ ability to use their communication skills from the start of their projects.

Students are taught how to surface and address concerns brought up by patients, caregivers, and families as well as other healthcare providers, from a project’s inception. Patients, caregivers and family representatives are included as team members and their contributions are valued throughout a project, not just as afterthoughts.

“The ultimate emphasis of a QI project is improvement in the quality of care. This requires uncovering and understanding the root causes contributing to an issue and this only happens when all of the players impacted by the issue are comfortable sharing their experience,” says Shea.

Communication and collaboration are two key components in the QIPS curriculum, empowering students to identify and navigate sometimes challenging conversations to help surface the root causes of an issue.

One recent standout initiative aimed to improve discharge strategies in the paediatric medicine ward at SickKids Hospital. A lack of consistent and clear communication around discharge plans caused significant confusion that contributed to increased anxiety and stress among patients and their families. The project focused on streamlining processes to improve discharge efficiency and ensure all helpful information was shared in a timely way with patients and their families. This relieved pressure in the ER as patients could move more quickly into the vacated beds in the ward where they receive the appropriate level of care and comfort.

Ultimately, the MSc QIPS program teaches all aspects of communication from theories, approaches, and practical tools and provides learners multiple hands-on opportunities to apply their learning as they begin to address challenges in the system.

Looking ahead, Shea anticipates the program will continue to evolve in line with the increasing complexity of the system including rapid advances in technology. The program will maintain its focus on developing learners’ ability to navigate and support everyone working in the healthcare system emphasizing both analytical skills and emotional intelligence to foster effective collaboration grounded in expert communication.

“We believe interpersonal skills are especially critical. Opportunities like AI can reduce the time needed for routine tasks like taking notes which allows more time for people to meaningfully engage with each other i.e. providers with patients, caregivers, families and importantly, other providers!”

While patient complaints may continue to increase and systemic challenges persist, programs like the MSc QIPS are demonstrating how both technical and social skills are important to improve the experience of healthcare for patients, families, caregivers and providers. By empowering healthcare professionals with the skills to identify and address critical issues and foster meaningful relationships, they are poised to pave the way to deliver optimal patient care.