Patient safety is a high priority for pharmacists. Historically, they have safeguarded people from “poisons” and other substances that could cause harm. But now, more than ever, pharmacists are charged with the responsibility to ensure that when a patient receives and uses a medicine, it will not cause harm.
Pharmacists are key healthcare professionals, specialising in medication management. Pharmacists and their pharmaceutical support workforce are involved in a variety of activities that affect patient safety, including direct patient care and being part of healthcare teams. Pharmacists are well-positioned to advocate for both safer medication management systems, including management of medication shortages, and a culture of patient safety in health care organisations. To learn about interventions in different settings and case studies form different countries, read FIP’s “Patient safety: Pharmacists’ role in ‘medication without harm’”.
FIP’s advocacy at Global Ministerial Summits
|
On a global level, FIP works closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on its patient safety programme. For over a decade, FIP has been closely involved in advancing and advocating for global patient safety. For example, FIP was an early supporter of the WHO Medication Safety Challenge and was an integral part of its official launch at the summit of health ministers in Bonn, Germany, in 2017. Since this launch, FIP has been an invaluable asset to promoting patient safety, taking an essential role in annual global health ministers’ summits and other critical policy events. In 2018, FIP told health ministers at the Patient Safety Global Ministerial Summit in Tokyo, Japan, about the important roles pharmacists play in patient safety. In 2019, FIP promoted the adoption of the Jeddah Declaration on Patient Safety at the Patient Safety Global Ministerial Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This declaration highlighted important patient-safety recommendations for low- and middle-income countries and thanks to FIP’s advocacy, the 8th point of the declaration refers explicitly to promoting medication safety in community pharmacies and strengthening patient empowerment and community engagement efforts. In 2024, at the 6th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety in Santiago, Chile, FIP outlined the key role of pharmacists as medicines experts and in patient safety under the theme "Bringing and sustaining changes in patient safety policies and practices". The summit brought together health authorities from around the world to address emerging challenges and opportunities in patient safety, such as the integration of information technologies and artificial intelligence in health care. |
Zuzana Kusynová, FIP lead for policy, practice and compliance, at the Fourth Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety (2019), addressed ministers and highlighted pharmacists’ key role in ensuring patient safety. |
Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030
Adoption of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 by the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly in 2021 was a milestone in the global movement for patient safety. FIP supported the launch, when Zuzana Kusynová, FIP lead for policy, practice and compliance, moderated the WHO event “Partners in action: Engaging stakeholders for implementing the GPSAP 2021–2030”. The action plan paves the way for 10 years of concrete work on patient safety globally. FIP encourages pharmacists to take an active role in ensuring safer medication practices and medication use processes, including prescription, preparation, dispensing, administration and monitoring, in line with the action plan.
Furthermore, FIP participated at the Global Experts' Consultation "Implementing the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030: Pandemic and beyond" on 5–8 December 2022, online. At this meeting, FIP contributed to discussions on the proposed operational guide on COVID-19 and patient safety and reviewed the outline and draft content of the Global Patient Safety Report 2023.
World Patient Safety Day
The primary objectives of World Patient Safety Day are to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding of patient safety, and spur global solidarity and action to support patient safety. World Patient Safety Day is observed globally on 17 September of each year. It is celebrated by bringing patients, communities, healthcare leaders, and health workers together to show their commitment to patient safety.
In 2019, FIP encouraged the adoption of resolution WHA 72.6, “Global action on patient safety,” which led to establishment of World Patient Safety Day. Since then, FIP contributes annually to celebrating this important world day. For example, in 2020, FIP presented pharmacists’ roles at a WHO event. FIP has been part of the World Patient Safety Day 2022 Steering Committee established by the WHO to prepares campaign activities. FIP also organised webinar(s) dedicated to patient safety. Stay tuned to our social media for upcoming plans.
FIP has been invited to contribute to the technical meeting: “World Patient Safety Day 2023 Global Conference: Engaging Patients for Patient Safety” which took place on 12-13 September 2023 at WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.
Improving drug labeling to reduce preventable harm
| Medication errors, a major cause of patient harm worldwide, often result from look-alike, sound-alike (LASA) medications. These errors stem from visual similarities in packaging, shape, color, and size (look-alike) or phonetic similarities in names, doses, or strengths (sound-alike). Confusion can arise across brand-brand, brand-generic, or generic-generic names. FIP worked with WHO and other healthcare organisations and stakeholders to proactively develop and implement strategies to detect LASA errors and establish effective prevention to safeguard patients. This publication outlines preventive strategies for healthcare professionals and organizations |
 |
Tools for pharmacists
As part of the third WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm, FIP contributed to developing the 5 Moments for Medication Safety tool to engage patients in their care in a more active and empowering way. The 5 Moments are key points in a patient’s care where action by the patient or caregiver can greatly reduce the risk of harm associated with medication:
- Starting medication
- Taking medication
- Adding medication
- Reviewing medication
- Stopping medication
Each moment includes critical questions that promote patient self-reflection and patient engagement with a health professional. The tool is designed for easy use by patients, families and caregivers with the help of health professionals at all levels of care and across all settings.
In addition, FIP contributed to the WHO’s guidance, reports and resources to more easily promote patient/medication safety across different settings and health situations:
Medication safety in transitions of care
Medication safety in high-risk situations
Medication safety in polypharmacy
Furthermore, the role of the pharmacists is highlighted in various external resources. One example is the WHO key factsheet on Medication safety in prisons [hyperlink with https://www.who.int/europe/publications/m/item/medication-safety-in-prisons-key-facts]
Resources
- Medication review and medicines use review. A toolkit for pharmacists (2022)
- Medicines reconciliation: A toolkit for pharmacists (2021)
- Patient Safety: A pharmacists’ role in “Medication without harm" (2020)
- FIP Statement of Policy: The role of pharmacists in promoting patient safety (2020)
- FIP Development Goal #19: Patient Safety (2020)