Patient safety and safety culture in Belgian hospitals

Since the publication of the report ‘To err is human’ by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999, public attention was drawn to the importance and magnitude of the issue of patient harm from medical errors. Patient safety is defined by the IOM as a subset of quality of care and focuses on the way in which risks on unintentional and evitable harm to the patient are handled in the organization of care. Patient safety should be the top priority in every healthcare organization. Still often, it is not enough in the attention of healthcare professionals and organizations. Lack of awareness of the s... Mehr ...