Agency for Acreditation of Health Care Institutions in Serbia

The two day workshop on Clinical Risk Management and Management of Adverse Events was held on 16-17 December in Hotel Moskva in Belgrade. The workshop was organised by the TAIEX – Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission in co-operation with  Ministry of Health, Republic of Serbia on behalf of the South-eastern Europe Health Network and RHDC on Accreditation and Continuous Quality Improvement.

The meeting was opened by the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health Berislav Vekic, PhD. After that, the participants were addressed by Dr. Goran Cerkez, Deputy Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and President of the Executive Board of South-eastern Europe Health Network, Dr. Snezana Manic Director of the RHDC on Accreditation and Continuous Quality Improvement and Raluca Moldovan on behalf of the European Commission.

Aim of the meeting was to increase awareness among SEEHN member states on Council Recommendation of 9 June 2009 on patient safety: including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections (2009/C 151/01) Luxembourg, 9 June 2009. The Council of the European Union recommends that member states should set up, maintain or improve comprehensive reporting and learning systems so that the extent and causes of adverse events can be captured in order to develop efficient solutions and interventions. Patient safety should be embedded in the education and training of healthcare workers, as the providers of care.Also, to discuss the impact of patient safety on clinical outcomes among SEEHN member states and to identify common challenges and actions for mutual recognition of Patient safety among the SEEHN member states and harmonizing with EU requirements.

Key experts who presented their work were: Pia Knudsen, National Agency for Patients’ Rights and Complaints, Denmark, Lucia Guidotti, Ministry of Health, Italy, Adriana Galan, National Institute of Public Health, Romania, Hanne Tønnesen, Clinical Health Promotion Centre (WHOCC) Frederiksberg Hospital , Denmark, Yvonne Tuitert, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Netherlands, and Maria Ruseva, Freelance International Expert, Member of the SEE Health Network, Denmark.

In addition to the above mentioned experts, the workshop was attended by representatives of Moldova, Israel, Albania, The Republika Srpska, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia who represented their experiences in the field of patient safety, legislation and developments in this area.

This workshop is one of the first actions towards achieving the goals of the “SEE 2020 Strategy,” where for the first time health care respresents one of the four pillars of inclusive growth. One of the four objectives defined in this strategy is the introduction of measures for improvement of public health with a focus on the poor and marginalized groups, by strengthening capacity for delivering high quality services and health promotion.

Workshop conclusions:

1. Clearly defined need of SEEHN for further activities in the field of patient safety;
2. Lack of training/education of healthcare proffesionals  in the field of patient safety at all levels of education and in this regard it was decided to form a curriculum on patient safety as CME, which will be common to all Member States of the network, after conducting a survey to determine the priorities of each member state;
3. To continue with the activities on implementation of Council Recommendation of 9 June 2009 on patient safety;
4. To start with other activities defined by “SEE 2020 Strategy”.

Here you can download workshop presentations:

1.Trends and Strategies in Patient Safety and training in the EU and globally-Pia Knudsen

2.Why clinical risk is relevant to patient safety-Lucia Guidotti

3.Identifying the risk and assessing the frequency and severity of the risk-Pia Knudsen

4.Costs of the risk and how to reduce or eliminate the risk-Adriana Galan

5.How to manage clinical risk-Hanne Tonnesen

6.Patient safety in Dutch hospitals clinical outcomes-Yvonne Tuitert