Patient Safety in Physiotherapy

Thank you for watching Module 4 – Patient Safety In Physiotherapy in the Transitioning to Practice in Ontario learning series. Please take some time to reflect on what you learned by answering the questions below. You can check your answers at the end. We have also linked some helpful resources at the bottom to help support ongoing learning.

1.The term “patient safety” includes:	A. Cultural safety	B. Psychological safety	C. Emotional safety	D. All of the above	Correct Answer: D All three are important elements of patient safety that physiotherapists must safeguard.
2.What can physiotherapists do to help protect patients’ safety?	A. Using up-to-date infection control practices and keeping informed of evolving guidelines	B. Identifying patient-specific risk factors including medical history or medications that may impact physiotherapy care plans	C. Using effective professional communication to provide reassurance and comfort	D. All of the above	Correct Answer: D All of the activities described above are ways physiotherapists can optimize the care they provide while protecting patients’ safety.
3.Near-misses:	A. Describe situations where harm has occurred to patients, but the nature of that harm is not severe and does not require hospitalization	B. Are not routinely documented	C. Should trigger reflection, action, and modification of practice to prevent recurrence or escalation into adverse events	D. Should always result in punishment or financial penalty for the individual involved to make sure it does not happen again	Correct Answer: C Near-misses should be documented to allow for reflection and learning, and to support quality improvement. Near-misses do not usually result in specific harm but are an early warning indictor of an issue that should be addressed to ensure patient safety.
4.The acronym IPAC describes:	A. International Physiotherapist Assistants Coalition	B. Infection Prevention and Control	C. Internal Practice Advisory Council	D. Invitational Physiotherapy Advocacy Committee	Correct Answer: B One of the most important forms of patient safety involves Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC), focused on reducing risks of transmission of infectious diseases within a practice.
5.Which of the following are important techniques to support psychological safety of patients?	A. Asking patients for their preferred name to be used in interactions	B. Using the patient’s correct pronouns	C. Being aware of body language during patient interactions	D. All of the above	Correct Answer: D All of these techniques are examples of how psychological safety can be supported in patient care.
6.Cultural safety:	A. Focuses on the needs of physiotherapists	B. Involves supporting patients in learning and adhering to Canadian cultural norms and expectations	C. Requires physiotherapists to not make assumptions about an individual’s demographic background and instead ask questions to better understand each patient’s needs and goals	D. None of the above	Correct Answer: C Cultural safety means not making assumptions about individuals based on demographic or other characteristics. Cultural safety requires physiotherapists to engage in dialogue to understand each patient’s unique situation and needs.
7.Incident reporting:	A. Is necessary to assign blame when errors happen	B. Should be used to help individuals and organizations learn from past errors to prevent future ones	C. Is based on risk and danger thresholds defined by the professional association	D. All of the above	Correct Answer: B Incident reporting provides everyone with opportunities to review specific situations, identify trends, and ultimately prevent small problems from becoming big problems.

Additional resources:

College of Physiotherapists of Ontario: Patient Safety

Patient Privacy, Dignity and the Importance of Draping (Blog)

Canadian Patient Safety Institute

Check Answers

Patient Safety in Physiotherapy

Correct Answer: D

All three are important elements of patient safety that physiotherapists must safeguard.

Correct Answer: D

All of the activities described above are ways physiotherapists can optimize the care they provide while protecting patients’ safety.

Correct Answer: C

Near-misses should be documented to allow for reflection and learning, and to support quality improvement. Near-misses do not usually result in specific harm but are an early warning indictor of an issue that should be addressed to ensure patient safety.

Correct Answer: B

One of the most important forms of patient safety involves Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC), focused on reducing risks of transmission of infectious diseases within a practice.

Correct Answer: D

All of these techniques are examples of how psychological safety can be supported in patient care.

Correct Answer: C

Cultural safety means not making assumptions about individuals based on demographic or other characteristics. Cultural safety requires physiotherapists to engage in dialogue to understand each patient’s unique situation and needs.

Correct Answer: B

Incident reporting provides everyone with opportunities to review specific situations, identify trends, and ultimately prevent small problems from becoming big problems.

Additional resources: