On the morning of 16^th September, the event to celebrate the World Patient Safety Day (17^th September) and Patient Safety Week (12-17 September) with the theme “Medication Safety” and the slogan “Medication without harm” at FV Hospital officially ended. Over that week there were many activities to convey the event’s message to all FV staff, as well as to patients, their relatives and the neighborhood community.

World Patient Safety Day and Patient Safety Week, held its the opening ceremony at the Outpatient Pharmacy on the morning of 12^th September, with the participation from members of the Board of Directors, department representatives and a large number of staff, patients and their relatives. On behalf of the organisers, the Quality Management Director, Mr Mohd Fazli Shuib said: “Through this event, I hope the staff will have gained knowledge and tools to convey the safety message to patients to help the patient participate in the process of ensuring safe treatment”. This is also one of the main goals of this year’s World Patient Safety Day.

The Board of Directors joined the ribbon cutting at the opening ceremony

Many activities to provide useful information such as displaying posters, hosting games, capturing photos, etc. took place at the event booth. The activities also received the positive response from a large number of staff and patients. Thereby, it helps provide practical insights through “Know, Check & Ask” for both medical staff and patients, as well as the useful content distributed through the publication of “5 moments for medication safety”.

Front office staff shows commitment during Patient Safety Week

Nursing Director – Ms Lee Poh Lian is voting for the patient safety poster contest

This year, the Organising Committee conducted a special training  session on the topic “Medication without harm“, with the participation of Dr Vo Trieu Dat (Acting Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department), Mrs Nguyen Thi Hien (Deputy Nursing Director) and Ms Phan Thi Diep Hanh (Pharmacist in Compliance/Safety Control). With perspectives from the three main groups involved in the care and treatment of patients, participants could learn about the harm of unsafe medication usage and the reasons behind; they also learned about the medication management process that is applied at FV and how contributes at each stage such as prescribing, testing, instructions, feedback and adjustments, thereby providing patient safety during medication treatment.

Attendees actively discussed during the sharing session

Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are the leading causes of harm in care systems worldwide, even though they are preventable. The global cost of medication errors is estimated at $42 billion annually. “This year, the Patient Safety Week has a very practical theme, I hope through these events, we will contribute to an environment where patients can understand, participate and share responsibility in the treatment process”, Medical Director, Dr Do Trong Khanh shared about the events.

Activities at the event booth received many responses

At the closing ceremony of the event this morning (16^th September), Mr Mohd Fazli Shuib thanked the departments and all staff for actively responding to the special and important event week. Representatives from the board presented the awards for the Poster Contest “Medication Safety – Medication without harm”, with the first prize of 3,000,000 VND being awarded to the Nursing Staff of the Surgery Ward. The Outpatient Nursing Department won the second prize worth 2,000,000 VND, and FV Saigon Clinic (FVC) won the third prize worth 1,000,000 VND. In addition, the organisers also presented participation   prizes of  500,000 VND to the Medical Ward and FV Saigon Clinic nursing teams

Ensuring patient safety is a top priority for FV staff

Closing the Patient Safety Week, FV once again wishes to contribute its insights, in order to educate effective medical management processes to ensure we serve the patients and provide their treatment in the best way, Thereby, it partly show the principle of putting patient safety as the centre in all activities at FV Hospital.