Patient safety

Patient safety is fundamental to the provision of health care in all settings. However, avoidable adverse events, errors and risks associated with health care remain major challenges for patient safety globally. Every point in the process of care-giving contains a certain degree of risk to patient safety. Adverse events, or safety mishaps, may result from problems in practice, products, procedures or systems. Patient safety incidents can also cause death and disability, and suffering for victims and their families. The financial and economic costs of safety lapses are high.

Patient safety improvements demand a system-wide effort, involving actions in performance improvement, environmental safety and risk management, such as infection control, safe use of medicines, equipment safety, safe clinical practice and safe environment of care. Orienting health systems to the delivery and improvement of quality is fundamental to progress and to meeting the expectations of both populations and health care workers.

Every year, large numbers of patients are harmed or die because of unsafe health care, creating a high burden of death and disability worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

On average, an estimated one in 10 patients is subject to an adverse event while receiving hospital care in high-income countries. Available evidence suggests that 134 million adverse events due to unsafe care occur in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, contributing to around 2.6 million deaths every year. People mostly link patient safety with hospital-based care; however, unsafe care is a systemwide problem. Half of the global disease burden arising from patient harm originates in primary and ambulatory care.

Unsafe medication practices and errors – such as incorrect dosages or infusions, unclear instructions, use of abbreviations and inappropriate or illegible prescriptions – are also a leading cause of avoidable harm in health care worldwide. Globally, the cost associated with medication errors has been estimated at US$ 42 billion a year.

Recognizing the huge burden of patient harm in health care, the 72nd World Health Assembly, in May 2019, adopted a resolution (WHA72.6) on “Global action on patient safety”, which endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety Day, to be observed every year on 17 September; and recognized “patient safety as a global health priority”. The resolution urges Member States to recognize patient safety as a key priority in health sector policies and programmes, and requests the Director-General of WHO to emphasize patient safety as a key strategic priority in WHO’s work, especially within the universal health coverage (UHC) agenda. 

The resolution also requests WHO’s Director-General “to formulate a global patient safety action plan in consultation with Member States, regional economic integration organizations and all relevant stakeholders, including in the private sector”. This plan will be based on the guiding principles of equity, sustainability and accountability. The proposed action plan will seek inspiration and coherence with existing global action plans developed by WHO and other global health and development agencies. Responding to the unprecedented global patient safety movement, the need for very urgent and concerted action in this area, and aligning with the Sustainable Developmental Goals, WHO’s Director-General launched the WHO Flagship Initiative “A Decade of Patient Safety 2020-2030” in February 2020.