IPSO will be a first organisation in India which will take the ownership and responsibility of educating the healthcare workers in patient safety. While taking the example from the developing countries as below, these countries already have governance and ownership of patient safety in place,
Patient safety is a serious global public health issue. In recent years, countries have increasingly recognized the importance of improving patient safety. In 2002, WHO Member States agreed on a World Health Assembly resolution on patient safety.
Estimates show that in developed countries as many as one in 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care. The harm can be caused by a range of errors or adverse events.
In developing countries, the probability of patients being harmed in hospitals is higher than in industrialized nations. The risk of health care-associated infection in some developing countries is as much as 20 times higher than in developed
At any given time, 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals. Hand hygiene is the most essential measure for reducing health care-associated infection and the development of antimicrobial resistance.
At least 50% of medical equipment in developing countries is unusable or only partly usable. Often the equipment is not used due to lack of skills or commodities. As a result, diagnostic procedures or treatments cannot be performed. This leads to substandard or hazardous diagnosis or treatment that can pose a threat to the safety of patients and may result in serious injury or death.
In some countries, the proportion of injections given with syringes or needles reused without sterilization is as high as 70%. This exposes millions of people to infections. Each year, unsafe injections cause 1.3 million deaths, primarily due to transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and HIV.
All these institutions (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Administrative units e.g. regions, scientific medical societies, healthcare organizations,) have responsibilities, as well as the universities who have certain autonomy in devising their curricula on patient safety. The Ministry of Health provides the legal framework for the education of doctors and other health care workers. Health managers do not fall in the competency of the Ministry of Health.
The federal (national) government decides upon the basic contents but the regions/communities organise and manage the different programmes in the universities and higher education institutes on patient safety.
Ministry of Science Education and Sports; scientific medical societies (training for health professionals); healthcare organisations and the Chambers of Doctors, Nurses and Midwifes. Also the Agency for Quality and Accreditation in Health Care and Social Welfare is responsible for education and training in patient safety.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for the undergraduate education; for the healthcare professionals and healthcare managers the responsibility lies with the Ministry of Health as well as Scientific Societies and Health Professional Associations and regulatory bodies