About Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Quality improvement and patient safety are increasingly inseparable from environmental sustainability, as healthcare systems cannot achieve high-quality outcomes when care processes contribute to environmental degradation that ultimately undermines population health and system resilience. Many existing improvement initiatives already deliver environmental co-benefits, while sustainability-focused approaches can further enhance safety, efficiency, equity, timeliness, patient-centeredness and overall care quality.
Quality improvement (QI) is well positioned to advance health system climate action for several reasons. First, it offers a systematic approach and practical tools for organizing point-of-care environmental sustainability initiatives using established and validated improvement methodologies. Second, QI benefits from existing infrastructure that facilitates the dissemination and scaling of successful interventions across diverse clinical settings. Several frameworks, including Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) model, the BC Health Quality Matrix, the Alberta Quality Dimensions for Health, and the Sustainability-Embedded Quality Improvement (SE-QI) framework include environmental considerations within definitions of high-quality care. Furthermore, because QI interventions are inherently data-driven, they emphasize measurable change, enabling ongoing assessment of both environmental and clinical outcomes. Finally, QI creates explicit connections between sustainability and clinical care by embedding environmental considerations into routine decision-making, care delivery, and service redesign, thereby supporting the integration of climate action into everyday healthcare practice.
CASCADES resources support teams to identify and implement opportunities to reduce environmental impact while strengthening quality improvement across all five dimensions of care, supporting structured implementation, measurement, and shared learning across healthcare settings.
Implementation Resources for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Webinars
