2011 Steering Group meeting, Berlin, Germany
The nine countries of the High 5s Steering Group met in Berlin, Germany, on 11 and 12 April 2011. It was hosted by German Agency for Quality in Medicine and German Coalition for Patient Safety. The High 5s project is a patient safety collaboration among a group of countries and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety in support of the WHO Patient Safety Programme. The project focuses on developing and implementing standardized patient safety protocols that address the problems of wrong site surgery, medication reconciliation and problems related to the use of concentrated injectables.
Leading safety teams from Australia, France Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore and the US as participating countries, as well as Trinidad and Tobago and Scotland as observer countries and a representative from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), Canada, all took part in the stimulating discussions over the two days.
The Project is moving rapidly into implementation at the hospital level, and the Steering Group reviewed case studies, videos and stories from the frontline on barriers to implementation. Detailed sessions on the project's work in event analysis, culture measurement, medication reconciliation and wrong site surgery were held as well. More information on the progress of the project can be found on WHO Patient Safety's web site.