Version 2002
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Initiated: October 2001 MEClPatSafety/0ct2002
THE WMA DECLARATION ON PATIENT SAFETY
Adopted by the WMA General Assembly, Washington 2002
.PREAMBLE
1. Physicians strive to provide the highest quality health and medical care to patients.
Patient safety is one ofthe core elements ofquality in health and medical care.
2. Progress in medical and allied science and technology has transformed modern
medicine into an advanced and complex health system.
3. Inherent risks have always existed in clinical medicine. Developments in modern
medicine have resulted in new and sometimes greater risks – some avoidable, others
inherent.
4. Physicians should attempt to foresee these risks and manage them in the treatment of
patients.
PQTNC’lPI,ES
PRINCIPLES
5. Physicians must ensure that patient safety IS always considered during medical
decision-making.
Individuals and processes are rarely solely responsible for producing errors. Rather,
separate elements combine and together produce a high-risk situation. Therefore,
there should be a non-punitive culture for confidential reporting healthcare errors that
focuses on preventing and correcting systems failures and not on individual or
organization culpability.
7. A realistic understanding of the risks inherent in modem medicine requires that
physicians must go beyond the professional boundaries of health care and cooperate
with all relevant parties, including patients, to adopt a proactive systems approach to
patient safety.
8. To create such a systems approach, physicians must continuously absorb a wide range
ofadvanced scientific knowledge and continuously strive to improve medical practice.
9. All information that concerns a patient’s safety must be shared with all relevant parties,
including the patient. However, patient confidentiality must be strictly protected. .
The WMA Declaration on Patient Safety (Document MEClPatSafety/Oct2002) is an official policy document of
the World Medical Association, the global representative body for physicians. It was first adopted by the WMA
General Assembly, Washington 2002. .
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RECOMMENDATIONS
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10. Hence, the WMA recommends the following to national medical associations:
10.1 National medical associations should promote policies on
patient safetyto all physicians in their countries;
10.2 National medical associations should encourage individual physicians,
other health care professionals, patients and other relevant individuals and
organizations to work together to establish systems that secure patient
safety;
10.3 National medical associations should encourage the development of effective
models to promote patient safety through continuing medical
education/continuing professional development;
10.4 National medical associations should cooperate with one another and exchange
information about adverse events, including errors, their solutions, and “lessons e
learned” to improve patient safety.
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2S.I 1.2002
The WMA Declaration on Patient Safety (Document MEClPatSafety/0et2002) is an official policy document of
the World Medical Association, the global representative body for physicians. It was first adopted by the WMA
General Assembly, Washington 2002.
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