German Coalition for Patient Safety

Hedwig Francois- Kettner ( Chairman ), Prof. Dr. Hartmut Siebert ( Vice Chairman), Hardy Müller (Managing Director)

The Coalition for Patient Safety (APS ) was founded in April 2005 as a joint initiative of representatives of health professionals, their associations and patient organizations, to build a common platform to improve patient safety in Germany.

Tasks

The association developed in multidisciplinary work groups actions and campaigns to improve patient safety in Germany

The results of the working groups will be published as recommendations for action that are available to all institutions in the German health care free of charge. The working groups also organize special events and organize the mutual exchange of experts.

The association cooperates with associations, professional societies, research institutes, health insurance, self-governing institutions and patient organizations. It is supported by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG ).

Selected Projects

• The action Clean Hands is a joint campaign of the APS, the National Reference Centre for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections and the Society for quality management in health care. The aim of the campaign is to promote hand hygiene in the hospital and so to reduce the number of infections significantly. Participation is open to all German hospitals.
• The hospital - CIRS power Germany is a joint project of the Medical Centre for Quality in Medicine ( AQuMed ), the APS, the German Hospital Federation ( DKG ) and the German Care Council (DPR), which allows all hospitals, from others' mistakes to learn. The KH- CIRS -D network is applied disciplines and professional groups across.
• Action on Patient Safety High 5: The High 5s project was supported by the World Health Organization ( WHO) initiated in 2006, to become active in the worldwide relevant patient safety. The term "high 5s " is derived from the original intention of the project, namely the reduction of 5 serious patient safety problems in 5 countries over 5 years. The project by leading organization in each country is known as the Lead Technical Agency ( LTA). In Germany the " LTA Germany" is an operational unit of the AQuMed and the APS. The objective of the international project " Action on Patient Safety: High 5s " is the significant, sustainable and measurable reduction of adverse events in patient care through the implementation of standardized recommendations (SOP = Standard Operating Protocols ) in hospitals. The project implementation in Germany is funded by BMG.