World Patient Safety Day 2024 – Improving diagnosis for patient safety
Theme: Improving diagnosis for patient safety
Slogan: “Get it right, make it safe!”
Key message:
Correct and timely diagnosis. The first step to effective treatment.
Delayed, incorrect or missed diagnoses, or a failure to communicate diagnoses to patients can cause harm, slowing or preventing access to the right care.
Understanding the diagnostic journey.
The diagnostic process is complex and involves multiple steps: collecting information about symptoms through asking about a patient’s history, conducting physical examination and tests, forming a diagnosis, communicating the diagnosis to the patient, treatment, and evaluating the treatment’s effectiveness. Errors can occur at any stage of the diagnostic process.
Prevent diagnostic errors. Prevent avoidable harm.
Diagnostic errors account for up to 16% of preventable harm experienced by patients.
System issues like understaffing and heavy workloads, combined with human factors like fatigue and cognitive biases, can lead to these errors. Addressing these factors can reduce harm significantly and requires better support systems, thoroughness, accuracy, and clear communication.
Diagnosis is a team effort.
Ensuring correct and timely diagnosis is a collaboration between diagnostic team members which include patients, families, their health workers, and within and between health care teams. All stakeholders must be engaged in shaping the diagnostic process and empowered to speak up with concerns.
Relevant hashtags: #WorldPatientSafetyDay #PatientSafety #WPSD24
Link to further information/WPSD webpage: https://bit.ly/WPSD24
Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030: https://www.who.int/teams/integrated-health-services/patient-safety/policy/global-patient-safety-action-plan
Medication without harm: Policy brief: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240062764
Source www.who.int
