Get it right, make it safe!: Angelini Pharma celebrates World Patient Safety Day 2024
Launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, World Patient Safety Day (WPSD) is observed annually on 17th September in recognition of patient safety as a large and growing public healthcare challenge. Bringing together patients, families, caregivers, healthcare professionals and policymakers, this initiative aims to raise global awareness of patient safety and call for solidarity and united action to reduce the burden of patient harm and ensure sustainable and significant improvements in the safety of health care.
In its sixth edition, this year’s theme is dedicated to Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety with the tag line Get it right, make it safe!. As defined by the WHO, diagnosis is the identification of a patient’s health problem and typically involves discussion, examination, tests, the review of results and final diagnosis before access to the necessary care and treatment can be provided. Patients and healthcare professionals work together to navigate this complex process, during which the failure to establish a correct and timely explanation for a patient’s health problem — from delayed, incorrect and missed diagnoses to failures in communication — can occur.
A priority area needing urgent and concerted action, diagnostic errors account for nearly 16% of preventable harm across healthcare systems, prolonging illness and even causing disability or fatality. Encouraged by the possibility of developing effective and safe drugs that improve the quality of life of patients all over the world, Angelini Pharma recognises World Patient Safety Day 2024 as an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of accurate and timely diagnosis.
Employing the voices of three in-house representatives, Pamela Rossi, Klara Kotyzova and Patrizia Ciavatta of Angelini Pharma’s Regulatory Team come together to participate in a social campaign amplifying key messages for maintaining diagnostic and patient safety.
Introducing Angelini Pharma’s Pharmacovigilance System, Pamela Rossi (Global Pharmacovigilance Compliance Senior Manager and QPPV) focuses on the continuous monitoring, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse drug reactions. Explaining "at Angelini Pharma we collect safety data from all sources, including healthcare professionals, patients, clinical trials, social media and medical literature, to duly define the safety profile of our products and provide patients with high-quality care", Rossi shares Angelini Pharma’s commitment to preventing harm by ensuring the proper usage of its products.
Klara Kotyzova (Global Pharmacovigilance Director) focuses on finding the right treatments and innovative solutions to prevent the worsening of patient symptoms and harm due to ineffective and unnecessary drug exposure. Addressing the increased need for patient safety due to the growing complexity of healthcare systems and the rise of patient harm in healthcare facilities, Kotyzova explains "every day we leverage our internal expertise and global resources to make sure that our products have all the information required for the appropriate treatment decisions".
Lastly, Patrizia Ciavatta (Executive Director Global Regulatory Affairs and PV) emphasises the Regulatory Team’s view of patient safety as ‘much more than just a regulatory obligation’. Committed to the constant monitoring of the safety of Angelini Pharma's products and the communication of this information in a timely and transparent manner to patients, healthcare professionals and regulatory authorities, Ciavatta asserts: "We are so proud to support World Patient Safety Day this year […], fully embracing theobjectives to increase public awareness, commitment and understanding of patient safety, promote global solidarity and action, and address specific patient safety issues".
Building upon a series of Global Summits on patient safety, this World Patient Safety Day the WHO has set out a global action plan and proposed a wide range of activities — including the signature lighting up of prominent monuments, landmarks and public places in the colour orange — supported by the high level advocacy of member states and international partners. For Angelini Pharma’s contribution and more information on World Patient Safety Day 2024, please visit Angelini Pharma's Linkedin and Instagram pages.