COVID-19 pandemic: a catalyst for accelerating global action on patient safety

Preventing harm to patients and ensuring the delivery of safe health care is a global challenge and one that predates the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the burden of patient harm, the seventy-second World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on global action on patient safety in 2019.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated previously known safety risks and sources of harm in health care and introduced new ones for both patients and health workers. For example, the unprecedented demand for health care during the height of the pandemic resulted in substantial disruptions to health services, including the delivery of essential health services, continuum of care for patients with non-COVID-19-related disease, and shortages in staffing and supplies. In addition, nosocomial outbreaks of COVID-19 occurred, with severe outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities and geriatric wards, particularly before the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines.