International Patient Safety Day
// 17th September 2018
The International Patient Safety Day is a campaign for all stakeholders in the health care system to work together to improve patient safety.
Purpose and Topics
Healthcare organisations, institutions, academic organisations, companies, patient organisations – all are invited to participate in this day with their activities and ideas, for example:
// Presentation of effective solutions to improve quality and safety in health care
// Raising awareness amongst the public and media on key issues relating to patient safety
// Information on activities in hospitals, care homes and general practice
// Information for patients on how they can contribute to their own safety
The International Patient Safety Day has a specific topic every year:
The focus of this year's International Day is
“Digitization and Patient Safety”
Digitization is changing almost all aspects of life: it offers room for innovation and enables the development of new technologies. Especially in health care, it leads to many changes. In the context of the 2018 International Patient Safety Day, healthcare facilities – such as open days and panel discussions – are asked to demonstrate how safe digitization can work in healthcare.
"We see digitization as an opportunity to further enhance patient safety in healthcare", says Hedi François-Kettner, Chair of the German Coalition of Patient Safety (GCPS), which initiated this day in 2015. "Through digital applications, interfaces and processes between home and specialist physicians, outpatient and inpatient care as well as medication dispensing in the pharmacy can be better interconnected." Thus, the flow of information can be increased, the communication in health care can be significantly improved and misunderstandings can be avoided.
Digitization offers numerous opportunities to make patient care safer. The GCPS asks all health facilities worldwide: "Show, with the involvement of all stakeholders, your patients and the public during this day – September 17th – how you can contribute to patient safety with digital projects and strategies, while educating patients about risks and granting them digital self-determination" says Hardy Müller, General Secretary of the GCPS.
The campaign is an initiative of the German Coalition for Patient Safety, Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS), and took place for the first time on the 10th anniversary of the APS in 2015. The Swiss Foundation for Patient Safety and the Austrian Platform for Patient Safety joined the idea at the time so it was a multi-country day of patient safety right from the start.
// Topic 2015 // Prevention of Hospital-Acquired and Multidrug-Resistant Infections
// Topic 2016 // Medication Safety
// Topic 2017 // If silence is dangerous
NEW Project Information
The Ethical Guiding Principals to improve Patient Safety
// The Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) strives to improve patient
safety and encourages active participation from every organization. To ease participation in our common movement, we developed Ethical Guiding Principals to improve Patient Safety. These Guiding Principals are developed for all who are actively involved in health care on all levels of resposibility, and resultantly have a strong influence on patient safety.
Further information can be found here:
Federal Ministry of Health (Germany)
https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/international/patient-safety-summit-2018.html
Tokyo Declaration on Patient Safety:
https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/fileadmin/Dateien/3_Downloads/P/Patientensicherheit/PSS_2018/Tokyo_Declaration.pdf
United Nations – International Days
http://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-days/
The Third Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety (Patient Safety Summit) was taking place in Tokyo on 13 and 14 April 2018. State Secretary Stroppe was there as the head of the German delegation. As in the two previous years (London 2016 and Bonn 2017), the Summit brought international experts and high-level policy-makers together, to address current challenges to patient safety.
Copyright: Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Participating countries
Each year, more countries are taking part in this day.
Here are the links to the countries that are participating.
Practical guidance for patient safety
and Downloads
Practical guidance for patient safety
patient information
Tips from the German Coalition for Patient Safety on how to handle medicinal products at home
// A medicine cabinet storing all medicines used by family members in a household is very common in Germany. As it contains long-term medication as well as prn-medicines, certain medicines are often stored for a relatively long period of time. Consequently, the correct storage conditions are decisive for maintaining the medicines’ effectiveness.
This 10 points demonstrate important, generally applicable aspects that you should bear in mind when storing and using your medicines. If you are uncertain, or have questions about a specific medicine, please get in touch with your pharmacist or physician.
recommendation
Roads to Patient Safety: Framework of Learning Goals for Patient Safety Competencies
// A Recommendation by Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) for organisations and teaching staff in the education and training of health care professionals Prepared by the APS Working Group for Education and Training
patient information
Staying safe at the doctor‘s practice
patient information
Staying safe in hospital
// The more you participate in the decisions affecting your treatment, the safer your treatment during your hospital stay will be
recommendation
Checklist for Hospital Staff ‚Prevention of Falls‘
// Elderly people are increasingly at risk of falling, particularly in hospitals. Many safety hazards are located in the patient‘s immediate spatial environment. In addition to assessing the risk of falls, every hospital employee can contribute to minimising the patients‘ risk of falling by considering the questions below which refer to the most frequent safety hazards.
All professional groups which might be present in a patient‘s room should be trained on the issues listed below. In this respect, it is highly recommended to involve the cleaning staff and the transport service in such a training.
patient information
Prevention of Falls in Hospitals
// Falling is common for elderly patients and can have serious consequences. They frequently involve pain, injuries, fear of falling again and a feeling of insecurity. Your safety is important to us!
In this brochure you will find out how you can contribute to preventing falls in hospitals.
patient information
Prevention of Hospital-Acquired and Multidrug-Resistant Infections
// While there are many diverse patient-oriented education resources on multidrug-resistant germs (MDR-G), there is little information on hospital-acquired infections
– caused by susceptible or resistant germs
– that should be the focus of prevention approaches.
Based on recent research, this brochure gives you all the tips, information and background knowledge you need as a patient or relative to help prevent hospital infections. Every year, an estimated 80,000 to 180,000 preventable infections occur in German hospitals, about 1,500 to 4,500 of which with fatal outcomes. While the bulk of the measures needed to prevent these infections are for the hospitals and doctors’ surgeries to take, you and your relatives can effectively protect yourselves while staying at a hospital.
Recommendation
Requirements on Clinical Risk Management Systems in Hospitals
// Clinical risk management in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics comprises the totality of the strategies, structures, processes, methods, instruments and activities used in prevention, diagnosis, therapy and nursing care, that support staff at all levels, functions and professions in recognising, analysing, assessing and handling risks in patient care, so that the safety of patients, of those involved in their care and the organisation itself is increased.
INFORMATIÓN PARA EL PACIENTE
Con mayor seguridad en la consulta medica
// Recomendaciones para pacientes y sus familiares. Estimado paciente. Su seguridad tambien nos preocupa realmente mucho, por esto hemos elaborado en conjunto, con profesionales de la salud estos consejos para usted. Su seguridad es importante para nosotros.
Contact
AKTIONSBÜNDNIS PATIENTENSICHERHEIT
Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V.
Am Zirkus 2
10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30 3 64 28 16 0
Fax: +49 (0)30 3 64 28 16 11
info@aps-ev.de
www.aps-ev.de
With friendly support of the German Federal Ministry of Health