OSAP teams with FDI to improve Global Patient Safety standards

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Research Priority Setting Working Group on Patient Safety, tens of millions of patients worldwide suffer disabling injuries or death due to unsafe medical care every year.

“OSAP is a dental safety organization and this global project on patient safety is a natural fit for the organization’s core expertise,” said Therese Long, MBA, CAE, OSAP’s executive director.

“Safe dental care for people everywhere is our vision and we will do everything possible to make this a reality,” Long said.

The multi-professional WHO Patient Safety Curriculum Guide was first published in 2009 to provide medical schools with guidelines for teaching patient safety, and has since been downloaded by more than 1,000 institutions in 100 countries. In growing recognition of the harms caused by health care, the WHO initiated a review of the Guide and invited the FDI World Dental Federation to participate as a primary partner in the project, together with the International Council of Midwives and other members of the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA).

“FDI World Dental Federation is delighted to be collaborating with the World Health Organisation and other leaders in the health field, such as FDI members OSAP and IFDEA, on this important work to improve patient safety,” said Dr David Alexander, executive director of FDI World Dental Federation.

“As with our pioneering efforts in the creation and distribution of the Dental Ethics Manual, the extensive review of an authoritative resource on Patient Safety in the dental environment fills an obvious worldwide need,” Dr Alexander said.

Details of the review will be finalized during a consensus meeting at the 2010 OSAP Annual Symposium in June.

OSAP is the Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures. Founded in 1984, the non-profit association is dentistry’s premier resource for infection control and safety information. Through its publications, courses, website, and worldwide collaborations, OSAP and the tax-exempt OSAP Foundation support education, research, service, and policy development to promote safety and the control of infectious diseases in dental healthcare settings worldwide.

(Edited by Fred Michmershuizen, DTA)