Mother cried twice How I become patients safety activist

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Mother cried twice How I become patients
safety activist

• Individual patient stories which illustrate
  medical errors are valuable.
• The most important professional
• experience in my life was when
• I investigated the death of
• 17 newborn children and 74 who
• were infected in one of the best
• Polish hospital.

Mother cried twice - A small photo from the
newspaper
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Steps taken by the journalist

• Announcement was given in a regional newspaper
• Hospital tried to cover up
• Epidemiologic examination carried out
• Main Sanitary Inspector advised to inspect all
  neonatology and obstetrics departments in Polish
  hospitals.
• Result
• Patients have been provided with
  better conditions in hospital, epidemiology nurse
  is in every hospital, team for intra hospital
  infection is working in every hospital, patients
  and their families are more aware of their
  rights.

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My Patients for Patient Safety Journey

• Participation in the first workshop in 2005
  and created the London Declaration
• Organized and attended the first European
  Workshop in Dublin 2007
• Together we can protect peoples life.

Champions PFPS according to London Declaration
deal together to improve patient safety in the
whole World
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My efforts as a Patients for Patient Safety
Champion in Poland and Europe

• Connected with the Mothers
• Established the Polish Patient Safety Foundation
• Built local networks and partnerships with key
  stakeholders
• Worked with other PFPS Champions
• Exchange visits with Ukraine and Germany
• Joint awareness raising trek in Pakistan

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Working together

• Communication options
• presentation
• press releases
• key messages
• talk to friends, colleagues about personal
  activity within PFPS
• sharing of personal experience (bad and good
  practice)

At press conference in Islamabad possibilities to
show methods of collaboration between patients'
activists and journalists were discussed
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Work with media to help spread the message

• Four steps for advocacy initiative to be
  effective
• situation documentation (facts and objectives for
  example HAI costs in Poland 1 billion PLN every
  year)
• packaging the message
• cooperation with the media (well informed media
  have a great potential to enhance patient safety)
• mobilizing others (events like patient safety
  week in March, child safety week, women day,
  health day.)

German champions visited Poland last autumn for
a discussion on how to write to the media
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Methods of campaigning for patient safety

• Patient advocacy
• letters to public medical institution
• phone calls to policy makers
• meetings with patients and consumers
• meetings with influential individuals on
  committee meetings, conferences, events etc.
• Public advocacy
• publishing articles through media
• organizing press conferences
• presentations at conferences

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The Global Patient Safety Challenge

• Clean care is safer care
• The vision is to catalyze worldwide commitment to
  making clean care an everyday reality everywhere
  healthcare is provided.
• As a Patients for Patient Safety Champion
  contributed to the patient engagement element of
  this work and the development of a worldwide
  patient survey

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Situation now in Poland

• First time in Poland Andrzej Wojtyla - Main
  Hygiene Chef inspected obstetrics and neonatology
  departments.
• Inspectors were shocked in many hospitals
  doctors washed hands twice a day, they did not
  follow disinfection, sterilization and hand
  hygiene rules.
• They also noticed that in Poland there were
  too few microbiological tests. In our country
  5-10 tests per bed annually are done, while a
  European average is to 50 tests per bed.
• In Poland 1,5 infections come to light, in
  the USA the figure is 10 . It is due to the
  absence of an appropriate system for detecting
  intrahospital infections.

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How to engage patients

• The most important issue is to encourage patients
  to be actively involved in their treatment.
• Teach them how to start speak up - how to ask
  about medical results of treatment, dosage of
  medicine.
• Teach them how to read and understand leaflets
  about care and diagnosis.
• Work with caregivers to better reach particular
  patient populations.
• Promote staff collaboration across all levels.
  Keep communication open.