World Patient Safety Day (17/09)

September 17 is World Patient Safety Day, proclaimed in May 2019 at the World Health Assembly, which oversees the main events dedicated to this day.

The establishment of a new date in the WHO calendar of memorable dates and holidays was aimed at updating the most important issue in the health systems of different countries – increasing the degree of safety of patients when providing them with medical care, as well as exchanging experiences and developing principles for achieving this goal.

It's no secret that providing medical care to people is often associated with certain risks, characterized by the degree of success of the patient's treatment, regardless of the chosen method of treatment: surgical, medication, etc. Treatment may be successful, or may not be effective, and may lead to negative side effects on the patient's health. It is the prevention or maximum possible reduction of such risks that is the main issue that doctors draw attention to on September 17.

The issue of patient safety was raised until 2019 at the annual Global Ministerial Summits on Patient Safety, launched in 2016.

Paying attention to one of the fundamental principles of medicine: «First of all, – do no harm!» underpins World Patient Safety Day.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the problem of patient safety was supplemented by serious risks for medical workers, whose safety in the provision of medical services was at risk. This problem, interconnected with the main theme of World Patient Safety Day, became an integral part of the program of events held under the auspices of the World Health Organization in 2020.

Statistical calculations indicate that only in hospitals the risk of harm to health during medical care is possible for every tenth patient. Moreover, about half of the factors leading to risks to the patient’s health are among those that can be avoided or eliminated. WHO, when comparing the risks leading to a person's death, emphasizes that the risk of death in a plane crash is almost 10,000 times less than the risk of death in a preventable accident while receiving medical care.

Raising the problem, WHO, together with representatives of health systems around the world and medical organizations, is holding events dedicated to September 17 (which it was decided to devote each year to a specific topic): press conferences, briefings, open days, lectures and thematic conversations, interactive master classes. All these activities are carried out in the main areas in the field of safety in medicine: the safety of the use of medicines, the safety of the use of medical equipment and products, as well as the safety of medical activities themselves. Some educational activities are addressed to the patients themselves, whose behavior, actions and knowledge, including their own safety and the success of treatment, depend on. During the discussions, a set of measures is developed that should create a culture of safety in the healthcare system.



Postcard «September 17 — World Patient Safety Day»

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