CAPACITY BUILDING TO IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY

Subject overview

The World Health Assembly (WHA72.6) has adopted a resolution in 2019 that urges member states to recognize patient safety as a health priority and an essential component for strengthening health care systems in order to achieve universal coverage.

The World Health Organization has highlighted the following facts in its patient safety fact sheet. The occurrence of adverse events due to unsafe care is likely one of the 10 leading causes of death and disability in the world (Jha 2018). Unsafe care occurs in all spectrum of care (hospitals and outpatient) and all spectrum of countries (from low-income to high-income).

In high-income countries, it is estimated that one in every 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care (Slawomirski 2017). Nearly half of these adverse events are preventable (de Vries 2008). In low- and middle-income countries, 134 million adverse events occur in hospitals resulting in 2.6 million deaths each year (Crossing the global quality chasm, The National Academies Press 2018). In primary and outpatient healthcare, as many as 4 in 10 patients are harmed globally and upto 80% of harm is preventable (Slawomirski 2018).

The burden of harm due to unsafe care includes diagnostic and management errors and adverse events. Most commonly, medication errors, health care-associated infections, unsafe surgical procedures, unsafe injections practices, unsafe transfusion practices, sepsis and venous thromboembolism

Financially speaking, 15% of total hospital activity and expenditure in OECD countries is direct result of adverse events (Slawomirski 2017). Investments in reducing patient harm can lead to significant financial savings and better patient outcomes.

Symposium Objective

1. To understand the complexity of patient safety ecosystem at the national level and the interactions and dependencies between different players of the ecosystem
2. To appreciate the importance of building capacity of the public in the domain of patient safety through public engagement and the involvement of non health public sectors in improving patient safety.
3. To identify the importance of building capacity of the patients and their caregivers through patient engagement and empowerment and its impact on patient safety
4. To learn from successful models of healthcare providers capacity building efforts in patient safety
5. To understand the impact of organizational patient safety culture and teamwork on patient safety outcomes.
6. To learn from successful models of institutional accreditation and center certification and the impact on patient safety.
7. Panel discussion:
          a. To learn from successful national associations initiatives in capacity building and improving patient safety nationally and globally
          b. To appreciate the financial savings resulting from patient safety initiatives.

Symposium Objective

1. How can national societies improve patient safety nationally and globally?
2. Financial savings resulting from patient safety initiatives.