By Donna M. Prosser, Chief Clinical Officer, Patient Safety Movement Foundation
The COVID pandemic has placed an incredible strain upon global healthcare systems. Clinicians are exhausted, resources are stretched thin, and healthcare leaders are struggling to meet staffing needs. At the same time, much of our hard-won efforts to improve patient safety have broken down during the past two years, and in many cases, patients are at even more risk for harm than they were before the pandemic started.
This happened not just because of the surge in patients and the severity of illness associated with COVID, but also because our safety efforts have largely been focused on improving care processes in specific patient populations rather than on creating highly reliable systems in the past. Although these population-specific improvements have drastically reduced some healthcare acquired infections, surgical mistakes, and medication errors, healthcare has not yet become as reliable as other high-risk industries. High reliability organizations (HROs) are resilient and can deftly manage crises when they occur, a skill that we have not yet learned in healthcare. Until we do, patients and those who care for them will continue to be at risk for harm.
The Patient Safety Movement Foundation is a non-profit, global organization with the bold goal of eliminating preventable harm and death in healthcare by 2030. There are three things that we focus on to help us to achieve this goal:
There are many ways that you can get involved if you are interested. Besides downloading our APSS and attending our events, you can join a workgroup and help us to produce our APSS, send us your students, apply to become an ambassador, apply for the PSMF Healthcare Safety Fellowship program, or donate to help us continue to produce our free programs.
At some point, we will all be patients, so it’s in all our best interests to create reliable, resilient systems in healthcare. Join the Movement today and help us keep your patients, your family and yourself safe from preventable medical harm and death!
Arab Health is the largest healthcare event in the Middle East and is organised by Informa Markets. Established in 1974, Arab Health provides a platform for the world’s leading manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors to meet the medical and scientific community in the Middle East and subcontinent.
The upcoming edition of the event is expected to welcome the healthcare industry to view the latest healthcare innovations, products and services, and experience the highest quality Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences for medical professionals in the region.
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