IHPME SEMINAR FOR STUDENTS

Bench‐to‐Bedside? or Bedside‐to‐Bench?
Why contributing to fundamental
understanding and applied practice, in
quality improvement and patient safety,
is a two‐way street

November 26, 2015
Health Sciences Building room 412
12:00‐1:00 p.m.
Lunch will be provided

Abstract: Scientific research and practical aims have not always been well integrated in the
discipline of quality improvement and patient safety. Consequently, many novel yet
unsubstantiated interventions continue to be diffused, leading to fragmented strategies that fail to
resolve the concern and lead to unanticipated patient safety issues. Despite the last 10‐15 years of
focused research on the topic of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QI/PS), substantial
uncertainty exists regarding how to rigorously and pragmatically evaluate and disseminate QI/PS
strategies. In this talk, Dr. Trbovich will discuss a research program that interconnects controlled
and representative methodologies to contribute to theoretically sound evidence and practical
applications. She will describe a series of studies that she conducted within the aforementioned
research program to: (1) determine the underlying causes (e.g., interruptions, knowledge gaps,
technology design) of preventable medication errors; and (2) compare types of errors that were
best mitigated through automated interventions to those that benefited most from improved user
education, stressing the importance of tailoring interventions to the problems being addressed.
She will seek to explain why observations made at the bedside can highlight opportunities for
innovation requiring scientific research. She will conclude by offering suggestions to advance the
QI/PS research agenda that involve both the traditional bench‐to‐bedside and the more forwardlooking
bedside‐to‐bench approaches.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Patricia Trbovich is Lead of HumanEra, a research team based at the University
Health Network dedicated to improving health systems through safe, usable, and effective
technologies, processes, and environments. As Assistant Professor, she holds cross appointments
at the Institute of Health, Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) and at the Institute of
Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) at the University of Toronto. Her current
research focus includes improving patient safety in outpatient chemotherapy environments,
assessing the risks associated with intravenous medication administration, and identifying latent
safety threats and evaluating team performance during in‐situ trauma simulations. Dr. Trbovich has
received funding for her research through various granting agencies including the National Sciences
and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI). She is
collaborating with researchers in Brazil and Spain to develop of human factors expertise in their
healthcare systems. She received her doctoral degree in psychology from Carleton University in
2006.