Patient Safety Policies and Practices among Selected Middle East Countries: Are we walking on the Right Path?

Author(s):

Badr M. Madani*

Background: The Ministry of Health (MOH) is the foremost authority for public health services in the Middle East through a network of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare centres. In 2017, the healthcare policy was updated for patient safety by the MOH. Human errors have always been a prime topic of debate in complex systems, especially healthcare, due to the adverse consequences leading to cultural blame; this adversely affects the patient safety policy and quality care and also leads to financial strain. As a result, patients continue to suffer harm and substandard care, and this can be avoidable through proper healthcare information and awareness among the organizations. This review article has been written after evaluating 15 articles published in peer-reviewed journals globally. PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Research Gate, and Embase are some of the databases utilized for the literature research. The article also includes various studies that focus on patient safety culture. A thorough review has been conducted, including measures taken by countries in the Middle East to enhance patient safety policy. Studies conducted across these countries provide an evidence-based understanding of the patient safety culture.

Conclusion: There is a compelling need to promote patient safety culture to improve healthcare quality in the Middle East; this includes policies and measures adopted by various healthcare organizations, healthcare professionals, and those involved in medical education.