Patient Safety Awareness Conference (28th of March 2019) Under the theme of “Building Bridges through Shared Experiences: Towards a Lebanese Patient Safety Net”, the Lebanese Hospital Geitawi-University Medical Center (LHG-UMC) was proud to hold its 4th Annual Patient Safety Awareness Conference on 28th March 2019, celebrating the international patient safety awareness week, as announced by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (10th-16th March 2019).

The event welcomed more than 200 healthcare professionals from over 45 different Lebanese healthcare institutions, including medical, nursing, paramedical, quality and safety professionals. In the event’s opening remarks, LHG-UMC’s Patient Safety Officer, Ms. Melody Saikali highlighted patient safety as a public health issue, and the importance of healthcare institutions, to not only identify errors, but to identify and highlight their success stories and foster a more proactive safety culture. In addition, announcing the Patient Safety Movement’s (PSMF) approval of the hospital’s commitment to patient safety. The LHG-UMC is currently the first institution in Lebanon to be a committed member of the PSMF, and LHG-UMC encourages other Lebanese hospitals to join and commit.

The LHG-UMC General Management, represented by Sister Hadia Abi Chebli emphasized on the importance of raising awareness of patient safety among healthcare institutions, and highlighted all the solid steps and actions the hospital is taking in this regard.

The event hosted several eminent healthcare professionals, from diverse healthcare institutions in Lebanon, who shared experiences related to patient safety projects, practices or concepts which have proven to have a positive effect on the safety, quality and outcome of their patients’ care in their institution.

The Lebanese Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare (LSQSH), represented by Ms. Maysaa Jaafar, also announced the new National Patient Safety Goals project, which will help various healthcare institutions benchmark their progress at a national level and aim for continuous improvement.

The Keynote, given by Dr. Samer Ellahham, senior cardiovascular consultant in Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, in addition to being the Regional Chair for the Patient Safety Movement Foundation and Middle East Representative of the Joint Commission International (JCI) Standards Subcommittee, stressed that the repercussions of errors do not only fall on the patient and family, but highlighted the “domino effect” of medical errors, and how healthcare givers, the institution, and community can be the second, third and fourth victims, respectively in cases of medical errors. Hence, it is time to enhance the safety net for patients, caregivers and the healthcare community as a whole.