European Society of Anaesthesiology Partners with Patient Safety Movement to Lead the Movement to Zero Preventable Deaths in Europe

The European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA) and the Patient Safety Movement Foundation announced today that on May 28, 2016 at the annual congress Euroanaesthesia 2016 in London, the ESA made a public commitment to lead the Patient Safety Movement in over 50 countries in Europe.

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“As clinicians, our number one focus is Patient Safety,” said Dr. Zeev Goldik, President of the European Society of Anaesthesiology. “Since its launch in 2010, the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology has been signed and/or supported by regional and national anaesthesiology societies across the globe, from Europe, North America, Latin America, Australasia, Asia and Africa. Our Society was the initiator and one of the founding societies of the European Patient Safety Foundation (EUPSF) in 2013. We have been closely following the remarkable efforts made by the Patient Safety Movement. The Movement reached out to us as a partner and we accepted with a commitment to lead the movement in Europe to eliminate preventable patient deaths.”

“The time for action is now,” said Dr. Jannicke Mellin-Olsen, Secretary of the ESA, and a driving force for the Helsinki Declaration. “Europe is formed by a very diverse group of countries, governments, policies and regulations. As anaesthesiologists, we are taking care of the best interests of the patients whenever they are at their most vulnerable. We need to work at many levels, including inspiring everyone in the healthcare sector to take action and make their own personal commitment to patient safety and zero preventable deaths. We cannot leave this issue to someone else to solve. We are excited to formally begin our relationship with the Patient Safety Movement and complement our position as the European expert and leader in patient safety and quality of care. Anaesthesiologists have the key and leading role in the implementation of safer patient care in perioperative medicine, before, during and after surgery.”

“We thank the ESA for joining the Patient Safety Movement. ESA is a thoughtful and powerful organization that with over 32,000 members will make a huge difference in eliminating preventable deaths worldwide,” said Joe Kiani, Founder of Patient Safety Movement. Mr. Kiani continued, “What clinicians do is incredible; they provide the miracle of healing. Yet, due to lack of safety processes, some of the patients don't make it home. Their families will never be the same again, and sometimes the world will never be the same again. Preventable deaths in hospitals is the 3rd leading cause of death. We lose 3 million people each year! It's a tragedy 3 million times over again. Yet, it's a huge opportunity because by definition they are preventable. But, it won't get fixed by itself, and it won't get fixed by a handful of patient safety experts. It has to be fixed by each and every one of us. All of us in the healthcare ecosystem must act now! Each of us has to decide that we have to be the one to take on this burden and lead the charge to zero preventable deaths in our hospitals. We can't afford to lose another friend, family or neighbor before their time.”

European Society of Anaesthesiology

European Society of Anaesthesiology is a non-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening and unifying European anaesthesiology in the perioperative setting. It represents the medical speciality of anaesthesiology throughout Europe, through the drafting of guidelines, research and education with the aim of improving safer patient care and better outcomes. With more than 32,000 members from 108 countries across the globe, it has grown to become one of the largest and most influential anaesthesiology societies in the world and hosts one of the biggest and most innovative scientific meetings in Europe, Euroanaesthesia. The Society works closely with national anaesthesiology societies across Europe and further afield and the European Board of Anaesthesiology/UEMS, while establishing relationships with major international organisations from other related fields. It also monitors developments on the EU level which could have an impact on research and practice in anaesthesiology, with the best interests of the patient as its overriding goal. The European Society of Anaesthesiology aims for the highest standards of practice and safety in anesthesia, perioperative medicine, intensive care, critical emergency medicine and pain medicine through education, research and professional development. The ESA is the European Regional Section of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) and is a member of Alliance for Biomedical Research in Europe (BioMed Alliance). The ESA organises the European Anaesthesiology Congresses: Euroanaesthesia and the Focus Meeting on Perioperative Medicine. Visit www.esahq.org.

About The Patient Safety Movement Foundation

More than 3,000,000 people worldwide, and 200,000 people in the US die every year in hospitals in ways that could have been prevented. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare, to reduce that number of preventable deaths to 0 by 2020 (0X2020) in the US and dramatically worldwide. Improving patient safety will require a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation works with all stakeholders to address the problems and solutions of patient safety. The Foundation also convenes the annual World Patient Safety, Science and Technology summit. The Summit presents specific, actionable solutions to meet patient safety challenges, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data for which their products are purchased, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions. Visit www.patientsafetymovement.org.

@0x2020 @ESA_HQ #patientsafety #0x2020

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Contact information

European Society of Anaesthesiology
Susan de Bièvre
+32 (0) 2 210 94 16
susan.debievre@esahq.org
or
Patient Safety Movement Foundation
Irene Paigah
(858) 859-7001
irene@paigah.com