Dr Deborah White is a clinically trained nurse and a senior researcher in the Faculties of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Calgary. She is also the Dean and CEO of University of Calgary in Qatar and has over 20 years of experience in nursing education, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her research collaborations within the W21C focus on Patient Safety and Quality of Care, within three separate but linked areas: 1) health care workforce capability and development; 2) structures and processes in the work and learning environment; and 3) organizational practices and culture. Currently, Dr White is active on a number of CIHR funded patient safety initiatives and is leading a national study to examine the development, implementation, and impact of quality and safety teams in Canadian hospitals. The interdisciplinary research team involved in this study is composed of nurses, physicians, health decision makers, and graduate and undergraduate students. This overall umbrella of Patient Safety and Quality of Care fosters exploration of the interrelationship of the structural characteristics of care (i.e., provider, patient, necessary resources and support to deliver care), the care processes (i.e., what care providers do), the context in which care occurs, and their relationship to provider, patient and system outcomes. By studying these areas, Dr White hopes to improve the quality of health care for Albertans and Canadians. She is also actively partnering with Alberta Health Services (AHS) on a multifaceted evaluation of Strategic Clinical Networks – a new governance intervention established by AHS for enhancing care across the continuum.
