1. The Research Action Programme for Patient Safety 8 th European Health Forum Gastein 5-8 October 2005 Workshop 7, 7 October Dr. Itziar Larizgoitia World Health Organization

2. Challenges  Research for patient safety is not yet highly placed in many countries.  Opportunities for using research for sensitization and for solutions development are varied and mostly limited  Duplication of research efforts occur  Strengthened international dialogue and cooperation would facilitate the most efficient use of research efforts worldwide

3. Aims  To contribute to the sensitization of governments to the need for adopting effective solutions to prevent patient harm through the use of research  To contribute to building the evidence base necessary for the adoption of effective solutions  Emphasis on developing and transitional countries

4. Fostering research studies in developing and transitional countries  Generic studies attempting to estimate the extent and nature of adverse events  Studies on specific health care interventions:  Maternal care  Antiretroviral Treatment for HIV/AIDS  That build capacity in collaborating countries  That involve the government and decision- making structures

5. Research on Maternal Care  European-led Consortium, involving 6 African countries, to investigate:  the most frequent and important failures/unsafe practices associated to maternal care  understanding the organisational latent failures that predispose to these unsafe clinical practices.  developing scenarios for effective solutions, while minimising risks

6. Challenges  Methods used in more developed countries (based primarily on hospital medical record reviews) may not be fully applicable  Need for specific data-collection tools for settings with inadequate clinical information (adopt new methodologies: staff interviews)  Requirements for provision of ongoing supervision and coaching to local teams  Development of local capacity and links to local policy-making

7. Strategic questions  What would it take to eliminate preventive patient harm?  Or, is research targetting the knowledge gaps that are relevant to patients?  And, the know-to-do gaps that are required to the effective adoption of known solutions?  What can we learn from the experience of other industries?  What are the constraints for patient safety research both in developed and developing countries?  How the international dialogue can be strenghtened?

8. Towards a Global Research Agenda  Need for prioritization of research to best fill the knowledge gaps and also the implementation gaps of known solutions  Effective integration of research with solutions development and solutions implementation  Identification of solutions to best overcome capacity for patient research in developing countries  Identification of solutions to best bridge the gap between research and policy formulation  Strengthening of international platforms for incorporating essential allies in the dialogue towards a global research program

9. Concluding remarks  Critical role in the strengthening of patient safety agendas in Member States  Strategic program of work to be developed and initiated in partnership with international allies in 2006

10. Thank you http://www.who.int/patientsafety/en/