Centre for Research Excellence in Patient Safety

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Patient Safety was established to design, conduct, promote and promulgate high quality multi-centre research to improve quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for Australians.  Funding for this national centre was provided by the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care (now the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care) and was awarded through the NMHRC. The consortium includes a team of experts in health care risk management and an advisory group including patient safety specialists from the UK and the US.

Objectives of Centre

The objectives of this agreement include the establishment of a national Centre of Research Excellence for Patient Safety that will promote and develop resources to improve patient safety, and with the intention that it will lead to:

• a better identification of factors that affect patient safety in clinical situations;
• a better understanding of the role of human performance factors, organisational factors, and system deficiencies in the generation of clinical errors;
• the more effective use of registry data to identify variations in performance, and the development of research models to investigate them;
• a better understanding of the role of patients and carers in working with staff to identify and support innovation;
• an understanding of error management in other industrial settings and its potential application to health care;
• the use of clinical simulation to provide a realistic and safe environment for research, training, and education in the recognition and management of error-prone situations;
• the development of mechanisms for ensuring the uptake and application of research outcomes; and
• the training of new researchers with an appreciation of the role of multidisciplinary research in studying patient safety.

These objectives are consistent with the Council’s overall purposes with regards to patient safety research, which are to strengthen the evidence base for developing and implementing system improvements to reduce the occurrence of adverse events, and to continually improve the safety and quality of care for patients in Australia.

Chief Investigators

• Professor John McNeil  (DEPM) Principal Investigator; CRE in Patient Safety
• Professor Peter Cameron, (DEPM) Interim Director, CRE in Patient Safety
• Clinical Associate Professor Peter Sprivulis, (DEPM) Associate Director, CRE in Patient Safety
• Professor Don Campbell, Monash Institute of Health Services Research;
• Professor Stephen Duckett, La Trobe University;
• Professor Paul Myles, Alfred Hospital;
• Professor Penelope Sanderson,  University of Queensland;
• Professor Johannes Stoelwinder, (DEPM).

Collaborating Organisations

• Monash University
  • Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
  • Institute of Health Services Research
  • Monash University Accident Research Centre
• Bayside Health
• Key Centre In Human Factors (University of Queensland)
• Southern Health
• CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences
• ACT Department of Health/ANU Center for Health Stewardship
• Medical Defence Association of Victoria
• Melbourne Health
• Peninsula Health Rehabilitation, Aged & Palliative Care Services
• Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
• Wimmera Health Care Group
• Hunter New England Health
• Queensland Health, Patient Safety Centre
• Princess Alexandra Hospital
• Clinical Excellence Commission
• SA Department of Health
• Australian Institute of Heallth and Welfare
• The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
• Women's and Children's Hospital , SA
• National E-Health Transition Authority  (NEHTA)