Today is World Patient Safety Day!
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 17 September 2019 as the very first World Patient Safety Day to focus global attention on the issue of patient safety.
ICN has been working closely with the WHO and Saudi Patient Safety Center amongst other stakeholders on the theme of patient safety. Evidence has been growing about the importance of having adequate numbers of appropriately trained nurses. Now that evidence is overwhelming and compelling: there is a clear relationship between nurse staffing levels and patient safety and quality of care. And where there are appropriate staffing levels, nurses' wellbeing is also improved, because patient safety and nurses' wellbeing are two sides of the same coin.
ICN CEO Howard Catton states: “Having the right numbers of nurses, in the right place and at the right time, delivers quality and safety for the populations they serve, and will help to retain nurses. In addition, policy makers should heed the message that having safe staffing levels is also the most cost-effective approach to bringing about improvements in patient safety and quality of care. Nurses can make a difference to every patient they encounter, but only if there are enough of them to do the job they are educated to do. Safety is not just for one day, it’s for every day.”
ICN supports the World Patient Safety Day as crucial to promote and highlight the impact of nurses and nursing in ensuring the safety of patients.
Watch Dr Tedros’ video message and download WHO resource materials
Read our Joint Statement with the Saudi Patient Center and watch our joint video