› World Patient Safety Day

Saturday 17 September was the World Health Organization (WHO) World Patient Safety Day. The theme of 2022 event was ‘Medication safety’ – medication without harm.

Almost every person in the world will take medication, prescribed or over the counter, at some point in their lives and many will take medications on a regular or ongoing basis. We take them to treat or prevent illness however if medications are incorrectly stored, prescribed, dispensed, administered or monitored insufficiently, they can cause harm.

Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm to patients in health care across the world. Medication errors tend to occur when weak medication systems and human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions or staff shortages affect the safety of the medication use process. This can result in severe patient harm, disability and even death. The WHO World Patient Safety Day aims to draw attention to these issues and encourage the solidarity of health service providers in addressing them.

It is important that health consumers take responsibility and follow the instructions given by their health providers regarding the storage, dosage and administration of their medicines. If in doubt, any questions about prescription or over the counter medicines should be referred to your pharmacist or health professional. You can read more here.