Patient safety is a shared responsibility and of vital importance across the globe.
Here in the Middle East, we understand this responsibility and realize that there is an urgent need to improve the coordination of care for our patients and positively impact their quality of life and those of their loved ones.
Where should we start? By sharing best practice in healthcare.
There is merit in beginning with a clear understanding of what is best practice in healthcare.
For us in the Dubai Healthcare City free zone, and towards our commitment of spearheading the US-based Patient Safety Movement (PSM) in the Middle East, we define it as an all-encompassing approach to advancing safety in the health sector.
For patients, best practice translates into world-class treatment and care, and for healthcare systems, safe, effective and efficiency.
Various studies point out that there are a number of approaches to defining best practice. Admittedly, we also have ample evidence demonstrating that there is a gap between the kind of care that patients receive and the level of practice and care that they should benefit from. Whether we call it a research-practice gap or an evidence-practice-gap, there is a clear need to have a collective approach to add value to our individual efforts.
This collective approach is at the heart of our inaugural Dubai Healthcare City Best Practice Conference 2018, held under the patronage of the Chairperson of Dubai Healthcare City Authority, HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to share our organizations' best practice approaches to ensure that the best care and treatment available actually reaches the patient.
To reiterate our responsibility in line with the mission of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation – let’s unify the healthcare ecosystem and work together to eliminate preventable deaths.
I look forward to your participation and your best practice approaches. Only then can we truly share the responsibility of patient safety.
Sincerely,
Dr Ramadan AlBlooshi
CEO, Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulatory