Patients for Patient Safety US Announces World Patient Safety Day 2024 Slate of Events

WASHINGTON - March 6, 2024 - PRLog -- Patients for Patient Safety US (PFPS US) is now planning ACT Now for Safe Care, an agenda of events for World Patient Safety Day 2024, September 17, including a March in Washington DC from the White House to the U.S. Capitol, visits to federal officials, and the launch of Project PIVOT, a new initiative focused on advancing patient reporting of experiences and outcomes with safety, bias, diagnosis and transparency.  Our goals are to honor victims of unsafe healthcare, raise awareness, and call for real action by government and healthcare leaders to implement solutions that are effective, safe and fair.

2024 marks the 25^th anniversary of To Err is Human, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine report that called out unsafe health care as a public health crisis.  Despite nationwide efforts, sustainable reduction in patient harm remains a stubborn challenge.  25 years later, studies show that 1 in 4 patients experience adverse events in hospitals. New evidence also shows that missed, delayed or failure to communicate accurate diagnoses harm nearly 800,000 loved ones annually.  And health disparities data shows that persons of color, older persons and members of other more vulnerable groups are at elevated risk, underscoring that bias, discrimination and patient safety are intersecting problems that need to be tackled together.

"Patients and families in the United States have waited way too long – a quarter of the 21^st Century – for government and healthcare leaders to keep us safe in our healthcare system," said Martin Hatlie, co-chair of the ACT Now for Safe Care planning committee.  "Solutions exist, but system-wide implementation is fractured and much too variable.  PFPS US pledges to partner to make nationwide change happen but expect real action from our leaders.  ACT Now for Safe Care calls for Accountability, Coordination and Transparency."

"Unsafe healthcare organizations also put healthcare workers at risk for depression, burnout and moral injury when they are coached or bullied into staying silent about unsafe care," added Soojin Jun, a hospital-based pharmacist and co-chair of the ACT Now for Safe Care planning committee. "These conditions contribute to an alarming decline in people choosing to enter health care professions. I became a pharmacist to improve patient safety, but in many organizations we still haven't established a culture of safety that supports the workforce in assuring patient safety."

PFPS US is the U.S. branch of the World Health Organization's network of patient safety advocates.  "We are activists," said Sue Sheridan, a co-founder.  "Patient led, we partner with government leaders, healthcare leaders, individual patient safety champions and advocacy groups to take action.  We seek and expect to see support for improved transparency, oversight, and engagement of patients and families, because these are the change engines of continuous learning and improvement."

"Our mission is to achieve a healthcare system in the U.S. that is safe, fair and unbiased for all people now and that is resilient and sustainable for generations to come," said Beth Daley Ullem, a co-founder of Patients for Patient Safety US.  Let's follow through, incentivize and sustain that happening across the board in every healthcare provider organization in the United States."

In addition to the March on September 17, World Patient Safety Day activities will include an educational rally, organized visits to members of Congress, and the launch of Project PIVOT (https://www.pfps.us/project-pivot), a PFPS US led project. Project PIVOT will engage diverse patient and consumer groups, researchers, healthcare system leaders and healthcare agencies to advance and integrate patient-reported measures on patient safety, diagnostic quality, discrimination and transparency into standardized quality assessment measures so that the lived experience of patients is used for continuous improvement.

PFPS welcomes all patients, friends of safety and healthcare leaders to join in our days of activism to create safer healthcare in the US.

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For more information:

Attend our planning webinar for World Patient Safety Day, March 29, 2024, 2:00 – 3:00 PM ET.  Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqfuGuqTIiEt2K2yh5vvEF0D6fYu-4GvrU#/registration

Visit www.pfps.us to join us or learn more.