Welcome, and thank you
for participating
Your expertise and experience are central to this work. Whether you bring a clinical, research, health system, or lived-experience perspective.
About this project
This project aims to reach national consensus on the core elements of how serious safety events during or after pregnancy should be reviewed in Canadian healthcare settings.
The findings will also inform a practical digital tool to help healthcare teams design and strengthen their review processes. This work is part of The GEM Hub, a pan-Canadian initiative.
Where this survey fits
This survey is part of a four-stage project. You are here at stage 3.
Understanding current practicesScoping review
Identifying key componentsExpert workshops
Building consensus
You are hereDeveloping the toolDigital resource
- A scoping review is a type of research review used to explore and map the existing information available on a topic. In this case, it involved looking at how severe maternal morbidity reviews are currently being conducted in different healthcare settings and countries. Learn more
- We brought together healthcare providers, researchers, and persons with lived experience to discuss what is important in strong, fair, and effective review processes, and what should be systematically included in them.
What we mean by “serious safety event reviews”
A serious safety event, also called a severe maternal morbidity event, is an unexpected event occurring during or after pregnancy that resulted or could have resulted in harm.
When these events happen, healthcare teams may come together to review what happened and identify ways to improve care. These review processes are part of quality improvement work in healthcare. Their purpose is to help teams reflect, learn, and improve care and systems (and not to assign blame or discipline individuals).
These may also be known as: severe maternal morbidity reviews, near-miss event reviews, Morbidity and mortality rounds, and incident reviews.
Why this work matters
Serious safety events during and after pregnancy are increasing in Canada, and many may be preventable. Current review practices vary widely across settings, and structural, social, and equity factors are not yet consistently addressed.
This project aims to support more consistent, equitable, and effective review processes across institutions and communities.
How a review process typically works
Review processes for serious safety events generally follow these steps, with a focus on learning and improvement:
Identifying
a case
Gathering information
Reviewing what happened
Identifying opportunities
Taking action
Step 2 includes gathering perspectives from patients.