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Health policies and data

Patient Safety

 

Patient safety is a critical policy issue and remains an important challenge to all OECD health systems. Many adverse events leading to harm could have been prevented if appropriate safety protocols and clinical guidelines were followed.

The foundations for health system resilience and a capacity to minimise harm are found in strong safety governance, a 21st century information infrastructure, and sufficient, appropriately skilled workforce. The analysis is clear: unsafe care kills millions, and harms tens of millions of people each year. It also exerts a great economic cost on health systems and society, consuming valuable resources that could be put to productive uses elsewhere. Much of this can be prevented through concerted action and adequate investment OECD.

To know more about the OECD’s work on patient safety, please read our brochure.

Patient-Safety

DID YOU KNOW?

  • As many as one-in-ten hospitalisations in OECD countries may be caused by a medication-related event, and as many one-in-five inpatients experience medication-related harms during hospitalisation
  • Costs from avoidable admissions due to medication-related events and added length of stay due to preventable hospital-acquired medication-related harms total over USD 54 billion in OECD countries. This figure is equivalent to 11% of total pharmaceutical spending
  • Almost half of all patients receive prescriptions for medications that do not meet their clinical needs—medications with inappropriate dosing or duration, or even a completely inappropriate medication altogether or medication when an alternative intervention may be as—or more—effective. Beyond this, estimates suggest that half of all medicines (those prescribed, purchased, or dispensed) are not taken appropriately

Medication-safety-2022

ECONOMICS OF PATIENT SAFETY SERIES

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