Patient safety is a medical discipline that has arisen in response to the increasing complexity of health care delivery processes, which is accompanied by an increase in the scale of harm to patients in health care settings. The mission of this discipline is to prevent and reduce the level of risk, the number of errors and the extent of harm caused to patients in the process of providing medical care. The cornerstone of this discipline is continuous practice improvement based on learning from mistakes and unwanted phenomena.

Patient safety is a prerequisite for the provision of quality essential health care services. There is no doubt that quality healthcare services around the world must be effective, safe and people-centered. In addition, quality health care involves the provision of timely, equitable, comprehensive and effective services.

Successful implementation of patient safety interventions requires clear guidance, management capacity, data to inform safety improvements, well-trained professionals, and fostering active patient participation in the care process.

Key facts

Adverse events caused by unsafe health care seem to be one of the 10 leading causes of death and disability worldwide (1).

In high-income countries, it is estimated that 1 in 10 patients are harmed in inpatient care (2). Harm can be caused by a number of adverse events, almost 50% of which are preventable (3).

Each year 134 million adverse events occur as a result of unsafe health care in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), of which 2.6 million patients die each year (4).

Another study found that LMIC accounts for about two-thirds of all adverse events caused by unsafe health care and the years of life lost to disability and death (disability adjusted life years, or DALYs) (5).

Globally, four out of 10 patients are harmed in primary and outpatient care. In 80% of cases, harm can be prevented. The most serious consequences are errors in the diagnosis, as well as in the prescription and use of drugs (6).

In member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 15% of all hospital costs and workload are a direct consequence of adverse events (2).

Investing resources in reducing patient harm can lead to significant cost savings and, more importantly, lead to better patient health outcomes (2). An example of a preventive measure in this area is improving the quality of interaction with patients, which, if properly organized, can reduce the burden of harm to patients by 15% (6).