Sunday, 17 September 2006
RIYADH: With the increase of media reports on medical errors the Security Forces Hospital has organized the first International Patient Safety Summit (IPSS) which is taking place at King Faisal Hall at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh.
The three-day IPSS began Saturday with workshops on risk management, learning from errors and system failures. Minister of Interior Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz was scheduled to inaugurate the summit late Saturday night."International Patient Safety Summit (IPSS) is considered an enormous opportunity to discuss several important aspects of patients care, patient safety, malpractice and medico legal issues with the ultimate objective of building safer healthcare' said Dr. Sulaiman As-Suhaimi, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Deputy Director General, Security Forces Hospital Program.
The Organizing Committee invited several prominent and renowned distinguished local, regional and international speakers to share their experience and highlight recent advances in patient safety related subjects.
"We will benefit from their suggestions and practical experiences in the development of National Safety Standards, and working on creating awareness and national commitment to improve the safety of care and facilitate the development of patient safety policies and practices in the Kingdom through establishing an efficient reporting system; learning from pitfalls of the healthcare system and ensuring management of information about patient harm/injuries." said As-Suhaimi.
The first session on Sunday starts with an overview on patient safety will be chaired by Moansor Al-Hawasi. Hussein A. Gezairy will and address WHO regional efforts to enhance patient safety in the EM Region, Tawfik A M Khoja will present the GCC Experience in Patient Safety and Sir Liam Donaldson will present his paper on the Global Challenge.
The second session titled Patients Safety is Everybody's Responsibility will be chaired by Mosa'ad Al-Salman. Martin Fletcher and Helen Hughes will present their papers on Patient Engagement while Ali Hassan Al-Harabi will present an Aviation and Healthcare "Human Error" Management and Models.
The third session focusing on medical practice will be chaired by Adnan Mofti. Mohammed Al-Sofayan will present a paper of patient safety and cost of adverse events in surgery while Linda Kennedy will talk about accident patient. Mohammed Al-Dahish will present on the preoperative patient safety.
The final session will address improving safety practices with presentations by Philip Hassen and Salman Rawaf.
On Monday, papers on building an infrastructure for a safer system, international and local experience, medico and legal aspects and medication safety will be presented.
Victims and their family members will also have a chance to present their cases to the summit on Monday.
By Suzan Zawawi
© The Saudi Gazette 2006
