Erro médico: Eventos adversos em cuidados de saúde primários: Promover uma cultura de segurança

Abstract

Patient safety has not been systematically included as a priority in the organization of care in Portuguese primary care health units. The concept of patient safety is not new and includes a group of activities designed to avoid adverse events in primary care. These adverse events include harm to patients, near misses, incidents, accidents and errors. Adverse events are caused by multiple factors and can be prevented. In order to do that, we need to know how anticipate and prevent these events. When they occur, we must be willing to report them, discuss them, share our experiences with others, and learn from them. Portuguese primary care requires a change towards a culture of safety which includes every act of care for the patient from the time of their entry until the time of their exit from the health care system.