World Patient Safety Day – Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety

What is Patient Safety?

Patient safety refers to reducing to an acceptable minimum the risk of unnecessary harm associated with health care. Approximately 134 million adverse events occur globally each year due to unsafe care in hospitals, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, leading to approximately 2.6 million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Common adverse events that may result in avoidable patient harm are medication errors, unsafe surgical procedures, health care-associated infections, diagnostic errors, and patient misidentification. The cost associated with medication errors alone—50% of which are preventable—has been estimated at $42 billion annually.

Factors contributing to medication errors include:

• System factors: Issues related to workflow and physical space
• Human factors: Issues involving health care workers and patients
• Medication factors: Confusion resulting from similar-looking drugs or similar sounding drug names

What is a Diagnosis?

Diagnosis involves identifying a patient’s health problem and is key to accessing the care and treatment they need.

What Can We Do?

The USAID Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program recognizes the importance of improving patient safety and has been working to by setting it as one of its program objectives. MTaPS has been partnering with countries across Asia and Africa to improve their pharmacovigilance systems.

World Patient Safety Day serves as a global platform to raise awareness and promote collaboration among patients, health workers, policymakers, and health care leaders to improve patient safety. The theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day’s is focused on improving diagnosis for patient safety, using the slogan “Get it right, make it safe!”. This year, the WHO emphasizes the critical role correct and timely diagnosis plays in ensuring patient safety and improving health outcomes.

MTaPS Efforts and Recent Resources for Strengthening Patient Safety

• https://www.mtapsprogram.org/our-resources/strengthening-pharmacovigilance-for-improved-patient-safety-in-mozambique/
• https://www.mtapsprogram.org/our-resources/institutionalizing-active-surveillance-through-pvims-implementation-for-patient-safety-in-the-philippines/
• https://www.mtapsprogram.org/news-blog/promoting-patient-safety-in-the-philippines-through-improved-pharmacovigilance/
• https://www.mtapsprogram.org/news-blog/usaid-mtaps-at-the-international-society-of-pharmacovigilance-africa-chapter-meeting-2024/