Dear HIFA colleagues,
Today is World Patient Safety Day and the theme this year is "Safe care for noncommunicable diseases".
HIFA is marking this week with a global online discussion in collaboration with WHO
www.hifa.org/patientsafety
Thank you to all who have made contributions on this subject in the past few days, and welcome to the many new members who are joining us each day.
You can read a summary of the discussion so far here: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/spotlight-patient-safety-and-ncds-24-su...
and all the messages in full here: www.hifa.org/read
If you have not yet sent a message, please do so. To send a message, simply send a brief email to: hifa@hifaforums.org and we'll ensure it is distributed.
I can see at least four gaps in our discussion so far (perhaps you can see others):
1. Personal experience. I sent a message about my experience of missing a diagnosis of epiglottitis. I am sure that we can learn a lot from such experiences and I urge you to say a few words about your experience of unsafe care, whether you were personally involved as a health professional or indeed as a patient or relative. Email hifa@hifaforums.org
2. Patient safety and NCDs. NCDs is the focus of our discussion but paradoxically we have not said much about patient safety issues in relation to NCDs. We have noted that people with NCDs have a much higher risk of harm, for several reasons. It would be great if you would like to say more about this, perhaps with examples?
3. Patient safety in low resource and conflict settings. Again, we have not discussed this aspect in any depth. I have noticed that in the past few days we have welcomed new members with specific experience in these areas, including health professionals working with agencies such as ICRC in humanitarian and conflict settings such as Sudan. What approaches work to improve quality of care and patient safety in such challenging circumstances?
4. Most of our discussion has been around patient safety in hospitals and health facilities, but we have said little about patient safety in the home and community. Can anyone fill the gap? In what ways, for example, can self-care and care by relatives and by community health workers be made more safe?
These questions come to mind in addition to the original four guiding questions for this discussion.
1. What is unsafe care and what is its local and global impact?
2. What are the main causes of unsafe care for people living with NCDs? To what extent is access to reliable healthcare information a determinant of patient safety?
3. What can be done to better understand and improve health systems for safer care for people living with NCDs?
4. How can we better support patients and primary and facility-based health workers to deliver safe care?
With best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org