Advancing patient safety with WHO

"Target Zero Harm" brought to mind the Hippocratic Oath's "first do no harm", which has guided me and my peers in our medical careers. It is also the goal that SingHealth has set to eliminate preventable harm to patients.

A few days ago, a house officer shared that SingHealth is leading the way in patient safety in this region. She shared that the SingHealth Duke-NUS AMC's Institute for Patient Safety and Quality signed a memorandum of understanding in April 2023 with the World Health Organization Patient Safety Flagship to collaborate in the areas of training, and global sharing of knowledge and best practices, with the goal of advancing patient safety.

The four areas of collaboration are:

• The establishment of an Asia-Pacific Patient Safety Network
• Provision of technical support and the publication of best practices for the annual World Patient Safety Day
• A global knowledge-sharing platform for patient safety
• Joint development of a safety culture guide and corresponding assessment tool to cultivate patient safety culture in organisations

I thanked her for sharing such heartening news, as such attention to patient safety was not the norm in the early 1900s.

As healthcare providers, we must work towards zero harm. Patients trust us to care for them in their times of need and greatest vulnerability. We must not fail them!