World Patient Safety Day 2019 - 17 September

PATIENT SAFETY: A GLOBAL HEALTH PRIORITY

For the very first time, on 17 September 2019, World Patient Safety Day will be marked with events around the world to raise awareness of the need to establish patient safety as a global health priority. The day brings stakeholders together in an effort to reduce the unintended harm caused by healthcare.

The objective of the very first World Patient Safety Day is to raise global awareness about patient safety with the theme ‘Patient Safety: a global health priority’. Openness and ‘blame-free’ environments are the minimum conditions for enacting a safety culture. Hence, to promote open communication for learning from errors and to emphasize the importance of patient safety, the slogan for World Patient Safety Day 2019 is

And yet...

• 2.6 million people die every year due to harmful events in health care situations
• 15% of hospital costs can be attributed to treatment resulting from patient safety errors in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develompemnt - OECD countries
• 1 in 10 patients are harmed while receiving hospital care in high-income countries
• As many as 1 out of every 4 hospitalizations result in patient harm each year in low- and middle-income countries.
• As many as 4 out of 10 patients are harmed in the primary and outpatient health care settings
• Up to 80% of harm in primary and outpatient settings can be avoided. Estimates show that as many as 20%-25% of the general population experience avoidable harm.

#PatientSafty |#Healthforall

How can you enhance patient safety?

If you are a patient or caregiver:

• Be actively involved in your own care
• It is good to ask questions; safe health care starts with good communication
• Be sure to provide accurate information about your health history

If you are a health worker or health care leader:

• Engage patients as partners in their care
• Work together for patient safety
• Ensure continuous professional development to improve your skills and knowledge in patient safety
• Create an open and transparent safety culture in health care settings
• Encourage blame-free reporting of and learning from errors

If you are a policy maker:

• Investing in patient safety results in financial savings
• Invest in patient safety to save lives and build trust
• Make patient safety a national health priority

If you are a policy maker:

• Investing in patient safety results in financial savings
• Invest in patient safety to save lives and build trust
• Make patient safety a national health priority
• If you are a researcher student academic or professional institution:
• Generate evidence to improve patient safety, your research matters
• Encourage research in patient safety
• Incorporate patient safety in educational curricula and courses

If you are a professional association, international organization or foundation:

• Promote patient safety for achieving universal health coverage
• Provide learning and development opportunities for patient safety

If you are a public health advocate or from a patient organization:

• Promote patients’ voices in their own safe care

Advocay material