An international language for patient safety: Global progress in patient safety requires classification of key concepts

Abstract

The past 10 years has seen a rapid growth in research and action on patient safety throughout the world [1]. This is a welcome development. However, comparative analysis of risks to patient safety has been constrained by the absence of a common, internationally agreed set of patient safety concepts. In fact, patient safety appears to be a field of scientific endeavour in which identical terms are often understood to mean quite different things, depending on the standpoint of individuals involved. Such ambiguity frustrates progress. Since its inception in 2004, the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety has recognized the importance of addressing this problem [2]. Over the past 3 years, careful, comprehensive work involving a wide range of experts from across the world has focussed on identifying and agreeing upon safety-related concepts, definitions and preferred terms …