The Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology

Abstract

Anaesthesiology, which includes anaesthesia, perioperative care, intensive care medicine, pain therapy and emergency medicine, has always participated in systematic attempts to improve patient safety. Anaesthesiologists have a unique, cross-specialty opportunity to influence the safety and quality of patient care. Past achievements have allowed our specialty a perception that it has become safe, but there should be no room for complacency when there is more to be done. Increasingly older and sicker patients, more complex surgical interventions, more pressure on throughput, new drugs and devices and simple chance all pose hazards in the work of anaesthesiologists. In response to this increasingly difficult and complex working environment, the European Board of Anaesthesiology (EBA), in cooperation with the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA), has produced a blueprint for patient safety in anaesthesiology. This document, to be known as the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology, was endorsed by these two bodies together with the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), and the European Patients' Federation (EPF) at the Euroanaesthesia meeting in Helsinki in June 2010. The Declaration represents a shared European view of that which is worthy, achievable, and needed to improve patient safety in anaesthesiology in 2010. The Declaration recommends practical steps that all anaesthesiologists who are not already using them can successfully include in their own clinical practice. In parallel, EBA and ESA have launched a joint patient safety task-force in order to put these recommendations into practice. It is planned to review this Declaration document regularly.

State-of-the-art usage of simulation in anesthesia

“…Team processes do influence team performance and patient outcome [37][38][39][40]. The European Society of Anesthesiology published the Helsinki Patient Safety Declaration in 2010 [41]. The declaration states that human factors play a large part in the delivery of safe care to patients and that Operating Room teams, including surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, have to come together to reliably provide this.…”

Effectiveness of Simulation-Based Education in Critical Care Nurses' Continuing Education: A Systematic Review

“…According to the European Council and the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki, health care providers' education plays a key role in improving patient safety (Mellin-Olsen, Staender, Whitaker, & Smith, 2010), and it should be introduced at all levels within the health care system (Rall, van Gessel, & Staender, 2011). The dynamic nature of critical-care settings requires new and more effective evidence-based teaching methods to ensure patient safety and high quality care (Cronenwett, Sherwood, Barnsteiner, Disch, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2007;Simerka, 2009).…”

Leadership and teamwork in anesthesia – Making use of human factors to improve clinical performance

“…Responsible professionals may thus have to take active leadership more often to counterbalance adverse effects of this pressure on patient safety and on effective team performance. 5,6 Numerous strategies for improving perioperative patient safety have been recommended, 7 but they can only work if clinicians manage to practice them under real world conditions. Leadership within teams and institutions is one important force to promote patient safety.…”