Medication prescribing and administration errors are among the most significant patient safety risks in pediatric and neonatal care. Fraser Health Medication prescribing and administration errors are among the most significant patient safety risks in pediatric and neonatal care. Fraser Health Authority (FHA) currently maintains Parenteral Drug Therapy Manuals (PDTMs) for neonatal, pediatric, and adult patients, accessible via the FH intranet. Lack of access to this resource can contribute to inconsistencies in clinical practice, increased risk of prescribing, dispensing, and administration errors, potential patient harm, and additional healthcare costs. FHA is seeking a technology-enabled solution, such as a mobile application, that provides healthcare staff with convenient access to standardized pediatric and neonatal drug information.
FHA and CAN Health are posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the following desired outcomes. FHA and CAN Health reserves the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must meet ALL the following criteria:
- Headquartered in Canada (additional criteria apply for companies not headquartered in Canada)
- Majority ownership of both the company and the solution by Canadians
- Solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)>7, indicating actual technology completed and qualified through tests and demonstrations
- All the data and AI models (if applicable) must be hosted in Canada and comply with all the Canadian privacy regulations
- Possess all regulatory approvals required for commercialization, such as Health Canada approval
- Completion of all required clinical validity/unity studies
- No need for policy changes to be widely adopted
- Strong use cases in the Canadian healthcare system
- Active Elevate Membership with CAN Health Network (must be active at the time of project launch; not required to apply)
If the company is not headquartered in Canada or the solution is not majority owned by Canadians, additional criteria apply:
- Independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors)
- High Canadian job creation potential, especially in executive and senior management positions
- Commitment of over 70% of contract value to Canada.
During the company selection process, preference is given to companies/solutions fully owned by Canadians, followed by those majority owned by Canadians, and finally international companies with a significant presence and economic impact in Canada.
For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/
Problem Statement:
The Fraser Health Authority (FHA) aims to increase efforts to reduce preventable medication related errors in pediatric and neonatal care by enhancing access to centralized, standardized medication information at the point of care. Current desktop-based Parenteral Drug Therapy Manuals (PDTMs) are underutilized because of the time and inconvenience required to access a workstation. As a result, nurses create informal reference sheets with potentially outdated information, and physicians consult external apps that may not align with FHA dosing guidelines or smart pump settings — both of which increase the risk of medication errors. This increases the risk of patient harm, impacts quality and safety outcomes, and contributes to avoidable operational and healthcare costs.
Objectives:
This initiative aims to improve access to standardized and up-to-date medication information, reduce preventable medication errors, patient harm and associated costs, decrease the time required to obtain necessary information, and support safe, consistent, and efficient medication practices across FHA. The objectives include:
- Implementation of a mobile application containing FHA-endorsed neonatal and pediatric medication information (including all routes of administration, Broselow resuscitation medications, dosing regimens, preparation and administration instructions, monitoring parameters, compatibility information, and key clinical implications).
- Ensuring that the solution is accessible to all FHA healthcare providers on both FH-issued and personal mobile devices, as well as via a web browser.
Reducing medication-related errors and improving patient safety outcomes by ensuring healthcare providers have reliable, standardized access to FHA-endorsed medication information at the point of care.
Essential (mandatory) outcomes:
The proposed solution must:
- Functions as an off-the-shelf mobile solution that offers personalization capabilities, such as customized information presentation.
- Serve as a more robust and comprehensive resource than the current PDTM, containing all FHA-endorsed neonatal and paediatric medication information (including indications, dosing regimens for all routes of administration, preparation and administration instructions, monitoring parameters, compatibility information, and important clinical implications including Broselow resuscitation medications), and must align with current FHA guidelines and smart pump settings to replace the need for informal reference materials.
- Support clinicians involved in prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications by improving access to current medication guidance, enhancing patient safety, reducing medication-related errors, and improving operational efficiency.
- Leverage current technology and be deployable on both FH-issued and personal (non-FH) mobile devices, and accessible via a web browser for users without a mobile device.
- Available to all healthcare providers across FHA who are involved in prescribing, dispensing, or administering medications to neonatal and pediatric patients.
- Decrease the incidence of preventable adverse medication events and associated patient harm.
- Be intuitive and easy to use, enabling fast retrieval of medication information at the point of care to reduce time burden on clinical staff, and meets current technological standards.
- Reduce the time required by clinical staff to access medication information at the point of care, eliminating the need to locate and log into a desktop workstation.
- Contribute to a reduction in costs associated with preventable medication errors and adverse drug events.
The vendor must:
- Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing quality improvement initiatives to continuously enhance the solution and further improve patient safety outcomes.
- Provide an ongoing subscription model to ensure the solution’s medication content remains current, accurate, and reflective of the latest FHA guidelines following project completion.
- Support timely and potentially frequent updated information on the platform so as not to post erroneous or outdated information when notified by FHA to push revised/updated information.
Additional outcomes:
The maximum duration for a project resulting from this Challenge is: 12 months
Medication prescribing and administration errors are the leading preventable patient safety concern in pediatric and neonatal care, where dosing is weight-based and the margin for error is narrow. A key contributing factor is the lack of timely access to standardized drug information for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists at all points during the ordering, dispensing, and administration process. In Canada, an estimated 18,000 preventable medication errors occur annually, resulting in approximately 700 deaths and a system cost of $2.6 billion per year. The reported cost of an adverse medication event in Canada ranges from $4,000 to $13,000 per event; if each of FHA’s reported events resulted in an adverse outcome, the projected annual cost to the health authority would be between $1.6 million and $5.2 million.
FHA Pharmacy develops and maintains Parenteral Drug Therapy Manuals (PDTMs) for neonatal, pediatric, and adult patients. These manuals are designed to standardize medication information across the health authority and reduce error risk. However, they are currently only accessible via the FH intranet on desktop computers. Clinical staff at busy bedside settings frequently cannot access these resources in a timely manner. Registered nurses have reported bypassing the PDTMs due to the time required to locate an available workstation, instead creating personal reference documents that may not reflect current guidelines. Physicians have been observed using commercially available medication apps on personal devices that may not align with FHA-specific protocols or the drug library settings programmed into FHA’s smart infusion pumps — both of which increase the risk of medication errors.
To decrease medication error risks, staff who prescribe, dispense, or administer medications should have access to standardized drug information in a resource that is convenient, easily accessible and meets the current technical standards.
