ABOUT
What is the Patient Safety Community of Practice?
The PSCP is a not-for-profit, non-partisan association established to promote and support research to increase patient and public safety by reducing preventable healthcare harm.
Recent events locally and around the world create conditions in which independent, collaborative and voluntary associations that protect, produce and disseminate knowledge are needed.
Since the 1980s, governments in Western democracies have placed increasing emphasis on financial management and cost cutting at the expense of quality delivery of health services. This has resulted in many incidents of accountability failure in which established knowledge and best practice have been sacrificed, placing safety of patients and care providers at risk as market-oriented management practices and fixation on financial targets have taken priority.
Following a year of quiet development supported by volunteer effort and funding from an anonymous donor, the Patient Safety Community of Practice Association was incorporated in December 2024 as a not-for-profit, non-partisan association. Operating out of offices in the Edmonton Research Park, the PSCP has as its mission the creation of a safe and collegial space for researchers, students and citizens to explore and develop knowledge about important questions and issues that are under-researched in patient safety science, and the health and social sciences more generally.
ALL BOARD, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND RESEARCH-TEAM WORK OF THE PSCP IS PERFORMED
ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS.
To see some of the people whose involvement is moving the PSCP forward, use the links below.
Objectives of the Patient Safety Community of Practice Association
To translate, share and develop knowledge about patient safety to reduce preventable healthcare harm.
To identify gaps in knowledge and research priorities for improvement of patient safety.
To bring together scholars, leaders, clinicians and students to collaborate knowledge development and uptake.
To raise awareness of the causes of preventable healthcare harm and work with partners to reduce it.
What is a community of practice?
“… a group of people who share a common interest, profession, or passion and who come together regularly to learn from each other, share knowledge, solve problems, and develop their skills.”
The primary output of a community of practice is knowledge. Communities of practice differ from other types of organizations in that members select themselves based on interest and a commitment to develop and exchange knowledge.
Communities of practice complement and do not replace or compete with more formal work groups, project teams, informal networks, or organizations.
Communities of practice can proceed without the formal support of established organizations and vested interests in the pursuit of not-for-profit, nonpartisan knowledge sharing and development.
Communities of practice have been described as “the organizational frontier” in which groups of people are informally bound together by shared expertise and a passion for a joint enterprise. Research on communities of practice emphasizes their potential to link people across organizations and geographic areas to share and develop knowledge. Virtual opportunities for direct communication and information sharing now expand the potential inclusiveness and influence of communities of practice.
At its heart, a community of practice is a group of people who share a common interest, profession, or passion and who come together regularly to learn from each other, share knowledge, solve problems, and develop their skills. The term was introduced by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning and further developed by Wenger in his subsequent book Communities of Practice. According to Wenger, three core elements define a community of practice:
Domain – The shared area of interest or expertise that brings people together (e.g., software development, nursing, teaching, gardening).
Community – The relationships and interactions among members who engage in discussions, ask questions, and share experiences.
Practice – The shared repertoire of resources the group develops over time (e.g., tools, methods, case studies, stories, standards, lessons learned).