Healthcare processes have become very complex and technologically advanced, increasing the risks of error and the potential severity of their impact. While the legal framework at both the European and national levels is an essential part of patient safety, they only represent one side of the coin. The traditional approach to patient safety education should be complemented with a greater emphasis on patient safety culture and its contribution to the quality of care beyond the simple avoidance of error.

In 2009, as part of a series of actions to raise the awareness of both professionals and the public on the issue of patient safety, ESICM initiated a task force with the aim of improving the safety and quality of care provided to critically ill patients. This initiative was the follow-up of a series of ESICM-supported studies investigating the level of patient safety events in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) around Europe and subsequently documented the scale of the problem.

This task force developed a directive for change that was signed by 57 national and international critical care organisations in the Vienna Declaration. One of the outputs that this task force achieved was the identification of a set of indicators that could be used to measure the quality of care provided in any ICU to drive future improvements in performance (read the full article here).
The current learning pathway comes in continuation of the previous efforts undertaken by ESICM to support learning and research in patient safety.

This hybrid training programme will allow participants to acquire, apply and integrate knowledge and skills through live interactive sessions, fellowships & research. The programme includes:

This hybrid training programme will allow participants to acquire, apply and integrate knowledge and skills through live interactive sessions, fellowships & research and face to face case-based workshops. The programme includes:

1. Live interactive sessions (May – June 2024). A total of 3 live interactive sessions will be organized online.

• Live interactive session 1: History of safety research and implementation science
  • Date: May 23rd
  • Time: 14:00-17:00 CEST

• Live interactive session 2: Patient safety during interventions outside ICU
  • Date: June 6th
  • Time: 14:00-17:00 CEST

• Live interactive session 3: Patient safety in the ICU
  • Date: June 20th
  • Time: 14:00-17:00 CEST

2. Fellowships (July-December 2024). A total of 10 fellowships will be conducted in centres around Europe, giving fellows the opportunity to experience patient safety in real-life settings and learn directly from experts. Fellowship related costs (accommodation and travel) up to 1000 EUR/fellow will be reimbursed by ESICM.

Eligibility and applications for fellowships:

• Applications open to participants from any professional background
• Must be a member of the ESICM (so join us now if not already a member!)
• Fellowships will be awarded on the basis of application, attendance at all 3 live interactive sessions and highest performance in the quizzes.

Fellowship centres and mentors:

• Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht, The Netherlands – Ralph K.L. SO and the local team (September 16-20, 2024)
• IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Milan, Italy – Luca CARENZO, Maurizio CECCONI, Elena COSTANTINI, Nicolo MARTINETTI and the local team (November 4-8, 2024)
• Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands – Rutger VERHAGE and the local team (September 16-20, 2024)

3. Research competition & awards (June – October 2024). The current learning pathway comes in continuation of the previous efforts undertaken by ESICM to support learning and research in patient safety. In this framework we propose a Research competition. The best 2 research proposals will be awarded with 5.000€ each.

The competition consists of 2 phases:

• Phase I (June 2024): Launch of abstracts (deadline: June 20, 2024) Notification winners/invitation for full research proposal
• Phase II (July-September 2024): Submission of full research proposal (deadline: July 31, 2024) Identification of the best two proposals Notification winners. The prize for each winner is 5 000 €.

Research awards: at LIVES Barcelona (October 05-09, 2024).

4. Case Based Workshop A total of 15 FREE ENTRIES to both LIVES 2024 and the Case based Workshop on Patient Safety will be offered to the best scoring participants in the LIVE VIRTUAL SESSIONS.

Intensivists, intensive care nurses, allied healthcare professional and clinical pharmacists with high interest in patient safety.

• Jos LATOUR RN, PhD – Professor in Clinical Nursing and Associate Head of School, Research, University of Plymouth, Plymouth (UK); ESICM Ethics Section Chair.
• Elena SANCHO MD – Consultant, Intensive Care Medicine, Médecins Sans Frontières, University of Barcelona (ES); ESICM NEXT Committee member.
• Ralph K.L. SO MD – Consultant Intensive Care Adults, Chief Quality Officer, Albert Schweitzer Hospital Dordrecht, the Netherlands; chair National Platform of Medical Patient Safety Officers of the Dutch Association of Medical Specialists (FMS).
• Andreas VALENTIN MD, MBA, Prof. – Head, Department of Internal Medicine with Cardiology & Intensive Care Medicine, Vienna Health Care Group; Professor at Medical University of Vienna (Austria); member of the Task Force on Safety and Quality of ESICM, created in 2009
• Richard BOURNE MSc, MRes, PhD – Consultant Pharmacist (Critical Care), Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, United Kingdom; Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer (Pharmacy), The Unversity of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Kalliopi KYDONAKI PhD, FHEA, MSc, BSc (Hons) –  Lecturer in Adult Nursing, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, United Kingdom; Lecturer in Critical care nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. ESICM N&AHP committee elected member
• Gary MILLS MD, PhD – NHS Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine Honorary; Professor of Critical Care Medicine and Perioperative Medicine; Sheffield University, United Kingdom
• Christopher NEUHAUS MD – Department of Anaesthesiology, the University Hospital Heidelberg, Director of the Heidelberg Simulation Center for Anesthesia and Emergency Medicine (HANS); Germany
• Rangaraj RAMANUJAM PhD – Professor of Management Owen Graduate School of Management Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA
• Rutger VERHAGE MD, Anesthesiologist – Critical Care Physician, Radboud universitaty medical centre, Geert-Grooteplein Zuid 10, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• Björn WEISS MD – Deputy Clinic Director, the Virchow-Klinikum campus; Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
• Marieke ZEGERS PhD – Senior researcher; Radboud Institute for Health Sciences; Department of Intensive Care Medicine;Radboud Universitair Medisch Centrum,Netherlands

Supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Philips. The programme has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.