Patient Safety Movement Foundation to Start Health Worker Safety Campaign

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) unveiled its early plans aligned with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Patient Safety Day on September 17, 2020. This year, WHO is focusing on the theme of health worker safety as a core priority in achieving patient safety. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation stands in support of WHO’s focus with its 2020 campaign theme: Health worker safety is patient safety. The slogan will be #uniteforsafecare.

“This year has been one of the most challenging and eye-opening for the issues of safety in our healthcare systems,” said Patient Safety Movement Foundation CEO Dr. Dave Mayer. “Even before the pandemic, more than 200,000 patients died each year in America from what are considered preventable errors. Now we’ve seen the shocking caregiver infection and death toll wreak more havoc — all mostly preventable. Systemic problems in healthcare are at fault, and many of them — from burnout to the lack of transparency and safe processes — continuously set our health workers up for failure and error and put patient safety at risk.”

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation’s 2020 World Patient Safety Day campaign will focus on:

Summer of 2020: public awareness in press and on social media

September 8-17: a collective, virtual physical challenge to raise awareness about patient and health worker safety

September 16: serve as a content collaborator for the National Association for Healthcare Quality’s annual conference, NEXT

September 17: an in-person demonstration in Washington, D.C. and a free virtual event for the public and those who have experienced errors, harms, or death

“With COVID-19 pushing health workers to the brink, the issue couldn’t be more important than it is now: from effectively equipping & supporting frontline health workers in their heroic work, to equitably serving & treating patients. Health worker safety is patient safety, and we’re at a turning point in this cause,” Dr. Mayer added.