Each year, beginning in 2001, July 25 has been designated as “Patient Safety Day.” It is intended to pay tribute to those who work to improve the quality and safety of health care for future patients and in memory of patients and families who have lost their life or quality of life as a result of medical errors.
Organizers suggest that patients, their families and health care providers recognize the day by lighting a candle or have a moment of silence at noon and 6 p.m. local time. Are hospitals or other health care providers in your area planning to participate? Are they planning any patient education workshops or events in conjunction with the day?
The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, a state agency, has issued a press release supporting Patient Safety Day that also offers tips on how patients can participate in their health care.
Some patient safety advocates are using the occasion to urge Congress to do something about culture of silence about medical errors.
On the Patient Empowerment Blog, Trisha Torrey asks “How will you recognize Patient Safety Day?”
This year marks the first Florence Nightingale and Dr. E. Codman Patient Safety Day Award, which will be given to Dr. Lucian Leape, a health policy analyist at Harvard whose research is on patient safety and quality of care.
According to patientsafetyday.com: “Nightingale and Codman represented the values, character and pioneering evidence-based translational practice that placed patient safety and quality outcomes above all else. Dr. Lucian Leape follows in and broadens the ‘patient safety first’ footpath of Florence Nightingale and Dr. E. Codman.”
