The World Health Organization organizes World Patient Safety Day on September 17 every year. World Patient Safety Day calls for global solidarity and action from all countries and international partners to improve patient safety.
World Patient Safety Day 2021 is dedicated to the need to prioritize and address safety in maternal and newborn care. This topic is chosen by the WHO because of the significant burden of harm women and newborns are exposed to due to unsafe care. This is especially important in the context of the disruption of health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Safety for maternal and newborns is about avoiding deaths and stillbirths through the provision of safe and quality care by skilled health care professionals working in supportive environments:
- Put the patient first! Listen to the needs of the mother. Patient feedback helps to improve patient safety
- Provide training to (new) staff and ensure they learn from incidents in the past
- Prevent errors related to limitations in the supply chain and staff scheduling due to COVID-19
Follow up on patient feedback has a direct link to patient safety
Traditionally, quality and safety reporting has come from a provider perspective, with nurses and doctors reporting incidents such as wrong-site surgery and incorrect medication administration themselves.
While issues like those are easy to observe, other incidents might go unnoticed, such as a tense interaction between a patient and a rude receptionist, or feelings that a provider isn't listening to a patient's concerns. That's why patient feedback can be an important indicator of healthcare quality and safety within an institution. And increasingly, hospitals and other healthcare organizations recognize that patient complaints and feedback often provide important, yet missed, insights into safety and quality.
>> Learn more on how to make patient/client participation a success.
Patients look at healthcare from a different perspective than healthcare professionals. They have specific expertise that is unique and related to their personal situation, their treatment and their recovery.
The objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2021 are:
- Raise global awareness about maternal and newborn safety, especially during childbirth
- Engage multiple stakeholders and apply effective and innovative strategies to improve maternal and neonatal safety
- Call on all stakeholders to take urgent and sustained action to scale up efforts, reach the unreached and ensure safe care for mothers and newborns, especially during childbirth
- Advocate the application of point-of-care best practices to prevent avoidable risks and harm to all women and newborns during childbirth
For more information about this campaign by WHO you can check their campaign website.
Or check the inspirational video that was made by the Patient Safety Movement as a showcase of their contribution to the campaign last year:
The theme for World Patient Safety Day changes each year, but one thing remains certain: patient safety is more important now than ever. Read the blog on www.symplr.com to find out why.
