Regional Working Meeting of Caucasian Countries in Georgia

Regional Working Meeting of Caucasian countries was hosted by the Georgian Alliance for Patient Safety "GAPS"
in 3-5 October, 2008, Tbilisi, Georgia.

The Regional meeting of the Caucasian countries in frames of the International Initiative “Eastern European and Asian Organizations for Patient Safety” was held on 3-5 October in Tbilisi, Georgia. The meeting was hosted by the Georgian Alliance for Patient Safety and attended by the representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia and also general coordinator of the Initiative, regional coordinators of Central-East European and Balkan Regions. The participants were welcomed by Alexander Kvitashvili, the Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, diplomatic representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Georgia.

by: George Gegelashvili. on 01-09-2008

The meeting focused on patient safety and rights, safety culture, data sources for patient safety and medication safety. In order to promote prioritization and dissemination a special session was devoted to the international patient safety solutions. Presentations and discussion were followed by the voting to identify priority areas for the nearest activities in the Caucasian countries.
Patient Safety in an area of growing priority in many countries around the world. According to WHO data one from every 10 patients suffers from adverse events. Unsafe care damages not only patients that sometimes are forced to cope with disability, psychological trauma and significant financial loses, but also health care professionals who are devoured by guilt and shame that in a number of cases leads to the dropout. It should be emphasized that the majority of these cases are preventable.
Patient safety issues are acknowledged in the countries of former Soviet influence. Health systems of these countries were similar till 1990ies and after collapse of soviet system major changes have occurred in many fields including patient safety. This experience is important for every participating country.
The Euro-Asian Initiative for Patients Rights and Patients Safety is founded on the following principles:
1. Every patient should have access to quality and safe medical care;
2. The issue of protection of patients’ rights and safety can be solved only in cooperation and through dialogue between governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, leaders of patient society and through direct involvement patients and cooperation on international level.
3. Establishment of open and fair culture should become a cornerstone of any health care system.

In order to promote prioritization and dissemination a special session was devoted to the international patient safety solutions. Presentations and discussion were followed by the voting to identify priority areas for the nearest activities in the Caucasian countries.
According to the voting results the solutions were distributed as follows:
1 – Improved Hand Hygiene to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections (9 votes)
2 – Single Use of Injection Devices (5 votes)
3, 4 – Look-Alike, Sound-Alike Medication Names and Control of Concentrated Electrolyte Solutions (4 votes each)
5 - Communication During Patient Hand-Overs (3 votes)
6 - Assuring Medication Accuracy at Transitions in Care (2 votes).

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