Patient safety and health system governance

If it shared with New Governance an emphasis on accountability for performance and accorded citizens the right to judge, in the end it failed to appreciate adequately the unique features of public management to which the business mantra of economy, efficiency and effectiveness was incompletely equipped to respond (17). [...] A reasonable starting point in exploring the relationship between health system governance and patient safety is to recognize the key factors that have the capacity to influence the well-being of patients. [...] As the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation recognizes (48), the goal of a policy synthesis is not to advance scientific knowledge, but to inform decision makers by providing the best possible information available, regardless of the diverse character or quality of the studies reviewed. [...] As in the case of health technology assessment, the narrative review is “a bridge between science and policy and requires a balance between the ideals of scientific rigor and the realities of policy making” (55, p.177). [...] This will be followed by a presentation of the current evidence as to the impact of the process on quality of care and patient safety.