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Our Journey by Gaia Orion part of the HeART of HealthCARE virtual gallery 

Safe care for every newborn and child: Patient Safety from the start

World Patient Safety Day (WPSD) 2025 is focused on safe care for every newborn and every child as captured in the slogan “Patient safety from the start!”. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for urgent action to eliminate avoidable harm in pediatric and newborn care and reaffirm every child’s right to safe care. Patients for Patient Safety Canada (PFPSC), as the Canadian arm of the Patients for Patient Safety Global Network launched by WHO in 2005. PFPSC continues to support WPSD. 

Safe care for every newborn and child matters to PFPSC members because too many of us lost our children to avoidable harm. Through our volunteer work with PFPSC, we strive to prevent other families from experiencing healthcare harm. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers of children can play a key role in ensuring their children have a safe healthcare journey. We also hope to provide information to support families as crucial partners in their children’s healthcare.  

One child who suffered harm is a PFPSC member, Paula Orecklin. She has had Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) since she was 13. Her pediatrician didn’t take her pain seriously. He told her to “try and relax” and that she needed to stop stressing about school. This, shockingly, did not help her. While she eventually was diagnosed, it was only after 18 months of increasingly strong pain. If her doctor had taken her seriously from the start, she would have been able to start treatment earlier. The feeling of hopelessness of not being believed was a whole new layer on top of the mysterious physical pain.  

Paula commented; “It helps when the healthcare professionals admit they don’t understand what’s happening to me, when they don’t understand what’s happening to me. Then the relationship between patient and provider can grow from a place of mutual honesty and openness.”

Paula Orecklin
Paula Orecklin

CRPS was very unknown at the time she developed it, so she regularly saw providers who admitted that they’d never heard or seen her condition. They were still able to help by looking up the disease and listening carefully to her. Healing happens when people are open and willing to listen.

This is what I needed

  • “It helps me when healthcare professionals stay open, listen to what I am saying, even when they don’t understand what is happening to me.
  • I am not a difficult patient – I’m a difficult-to- treat patient.
  • Their inability to diagnose me is not my failure. Neither is it when treatments do not work.
  • Thankfully for me, my Mother constantly advocated for me.  
    • She went through so much just dealing with having a child in pain, without knowing what was going on and why it was happening.
    • She put that, and her natural shyness, aside so she could support me and make sure I, eventually, got treated.
    • I wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t have someone advocating for me. It’s hard to do that for yourself when you’re a quiet teenager in immense pain and being accused of faking or lying or malingering. “ 

Paula Orecklin PFPSC member 

Watch Paula’s story and browse through our other member stories and Melissa’s story.

Member Stories
Melissa’s story

Unfortunately, Paula is not alone. While the exact number of incidents varies, we think everyone agrees that even one case of avoidable harm is too much.  Here is a summary of what the reports and literature point to, providing us with a good foundation for acting now.

Here is what PFPSC learned from our experiences:

  • Families know their children best. They can meaningfully contribute to care decisions and actions and be a crucial part of the care team.
  • Families need reliable, timely, and plain language information so they can help their child and the care team throughout their care journey. Families rely on care providers to share needed information with them.
  • Families need access to their children’s healthcare records.
  • Families see when safe care is delivered, and notice risks that others may miss. Sometimes families are unsure of when, how, and to who it is best to share their concerns. 
  • Families understand that some things may go wrong in care.
  • When that happens talk to THEM and include THEM in the actions that follow.
  • They want to see accountability, transparency, and compassionate support for all so they can find ways to heal, re-gain trust in the healthcare system, and strengthen safety. 

Children aren’t small adults. They require individualized safe care.

World Health Organization 2025

PFPSC contributed to most patient safety and incident response resources developed in the last two decades now used across Canada. Based on that we recommend: 

  • Ask what the safety critical moments in the child/newborn’s care are (e.g., checking that medication matches your child’s needs especially at transitions in care)
  • Request information and resources to help you prevent risks (especially at home)
  • Make sure you understand what the problem is, the tests, treatments, side effects, follow-up needed.
  • Share information, concerns, and suggestions during care decisions, shift changes and transitions in care
  • Describe your expectations and needs
  • Find out what happens if something goes wrong, where you can report, who is responsible for safety
  • You are most likely to notice if your child’s health is quickly deteriorating – here is how you can escalate your concerns right away
  • If something unexpected happens expect an apology, to be informed about next steps, and to receive practical or emotional support to cope (what happened, why, and what will be done about it)
  • Find out how you can contribute to improving safety and how incidents are managed (join a local patient group, a safety project) 

      Child Health in Canada: Through the Equity Lens 

      By Esha Ray Chaudhuri, Member, PFPSC

      If you found this information helpful, please share it with others and tag: #patients4safety; #WPSD2025; #SafeFromTheStart.

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      – LONDON DECLARATION
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