World Patient Safety Day, 17 September 2024:
“Improving diagnosis for patient safety”
The World Patient Safety Day is a campaign for all stakeholders in the health care system to work together and share engagement to improve patient safety. World Patient Safety Day 2024 will be observed on 17 September under the theme "Get it right, make it safe!".
The German Coalition for Patient Safety (APS) calls on its members and all healthcare stakeholders to take action around World Patient Safety Day. World Patient Safety Day – one of the WHO's global health days – has been held on September 17th since 2019.
Objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2024
- Increase public awareness and commitment to patient safety
- Improve understanding of patient safety
- Promote global solidarity and action
- Address specific patient safety issues
Focus topic "Diagnostic safety"
Diagnostic safety plays a crucial role in patient safety for several reasons:
1. Correct treatment:
An accurate diagnosis is crucial to determine the correct treatment. An incorrect or delayed diagnosis can result in the patient not receiving the necessary medical care, which can lead to further health problems or complications. Unnecessary treatment or the prescription of medication that is not necessary can pose significant health risks.
2. Early detection of diseases:
An accurate diagnosis enables early detection of diseases. This can help treat serious health problems at an early stage, which improves the chances of recovery and can reduce healthcare costs.
3. Resource efficiency:
An accurate diagnosis helps to use resources more efficiently. Medical resources such as time, personnel, equipment and financial resources can be used more effectively when the diagnosis is certain and accurate.
4. Trust:
A reliable diagnosis helps maintain patients' trust in the healthcare system and healthcare professionals. A loss of trust can lead to uncertainty, dissatisfaction and poorer compliance with medical instructions.
5. Patient participation:
When patients understand that their diagnosis is correct, they are more willing to actively participate in their own healthcare. This includes adhering to treatment plans, implementing lifestyle changes and collaborating with the treatment team.
Overall, a secure diagnosis goes a long way in ensuring that patients receive the best possible care and treatment, which ultimately improves their safety and well-being.
> Learn more about the WHO Campaign
The German Coalition for Patient Safety / Aktionbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) – Exchange of experience and networking
The focus of quality-oriented health care is patient safety. Adverse events that are the unwanted result of treatment endanger patient safety. That is why the APS advocates strategies to avoid adverse events. Many undesirable events can be traced back to errors that arise as a result of complex processes involving the division of labor. The most important tool for improving patient safety is therefore learning from mistakes together.
The German Coalition for Patient Safety – Aktionbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) – has been contributing its experience and network as a platform for the WORLD PATIENT SAFETY DAY since 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.
The APS would also like to promote networking internationally. The website patient-safety-day.org is intended to share knowledge and experience from a large number of projects and to promote suggestions for expanding and building patient safety internationally.
The APS publishes the results of its projects and makes them available free of charge to all institutions and interested parties in the German health care system. Recommendations for action are an important practical tool. Experts consult in interdisciplinary working groups and create instructions for the implementation of security strategies. Accompanying documents (e.g. information flyers, background brochures) supplement the recommendations for action.
We are pleased to provide translations of these recommendations for action on this website.
> Translations in English and Spanish – Practical Guidance
> Homepage of the Aktionbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) [german]
> Homepage "Welttag der Patientensicherheit" (World Patient Safety Day) [german]
Practical Guidance
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
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.
Patient Information
Checklist for the use of health apps
In these guidelines, we offer advice to help you find the right application for you. At the end of each section, we have summarized the key facts. This checklist is intended to help you in choosing and using health apps. The idea is not to just tick all or a minimum number of boxes since these guidelines do not provide an evaluation of the medical utility or scientific accuracy of the information or recommendations provided by health apps. Under no circumstances should an app replace personal medical advice because only your doctor or therapist can evaluate which treatment is right for you.
Online app checklists
In these online checklists, we have summarized some key facts to help you weigh up the risks and benefits associated with using health apps on mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones or wearables and also give tips for the safer usage of such apps.
Available in english, french, german and italian
English – Checklist for the use of health apps
Deutsch – Checkliste für die Nutzung von Gesundheits-Apps
Franҫais – Check-list pour l’utilisation d’applis santé
Italiano – Lista di controllo per l’utilizzo di app per la salute
WHO campaign
We support the WHO international initiative for World Patient Safety Day
In May 2019, at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, 194 countries committed to recognizing patient safety as a health priority and taking steps to improve and ensure patient safety around the world. The World Health Assembly declared September 17th to be WORLD PATIENT SAFETY DAY and commissioned WHO to organize and establish September 17th as the annual World Patient Safety Day.
In 2019, the World Patient Safety Day took place for the first time worldwide – since then, the WHO has been focusing on patient safety on September 17th every year. The aim of the international initiative is to mobilize patients, health workers, policy makers, scientists, researchers, professional networks and the health industry to advocate patient safety and to increase public engagement on patient safety issues.
The WHO invites all healthcare organizations – institutions, academic organizations, companies, patient organizations – to take an active part in World Patient Safety Day and also to share their ideas on the subject of patient safety and to spread their commitment to patient safety to the general public.
Information on the international World Patient Safety Day and the WHO international campaign can be found on the World Health Organization website.
Join
You are welcome to share your engagement
Every organization contributing to more patient safety is welcome. Please register and we will display your logo on the cooperating organizations page on this site. Your participation is very appreciated as a motivation for more and more others. We welcome you to join us!
Engagement for World Patient Day
Photo Credits: Prof. Kama Akinori, Gunma University, Japan, WHO Collaborating Centre; Dr. Ahmed G. Newera, Saudi Arabia; Dr Olabisi Ogunbase, Maternal and Child Centre, Ajah, Eti-Osa, Nigeria; Ghassan Shahrour, Arab Human Security Network
With friendly support of the German Federal Ministry of Health
A project of the German Coalition for Patient Safety.