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October 23, 2023 Brussels, Belgium The medical community mourns the loss of Prof. Dr Bernard François Gribomont, a distinguished anaesthesiologist and a founding member of the European Society of Anaesthesiologists (one of the three European anaesthesiology societies that amalgamated in 2005 into the European Society of Anaesthesiology, now ESAIC, the European Society of Anaesthesiology and […]

Author: Guy Haller Introduction Patients expect anaesthesia not only to prevent the pain and discomfort of surgery but also to respect their needs and, most importantly, to be safe.1 Many patients fear complications, particularly unconsciousness, brain damage or death.2 In response, anaesthetists have learnt through training and experience to deliver anaesthesia safely, to monitor and […]

Author: Argyro Zoumprouli On Sunday, June 4th, 2023, during Euroanaesthesia 2023 in Glasgow, the Patient Safety and Quality Committee (PSQC) of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) held the Patient Safety Experts Meeting, inviting participants from ESAIC, other international societies and industry partners. The Patient Safety Experts Meeting is a unique opportunity […]

Author: Andrew Smith The ESAIC has been running the PRiPSAIC (Peer Review in Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. The project’s aim was to create a number of patient safety peer-review networks in 4 European countries, train participating anaesthesiologists in evaluating patient safety using the methodology and visit process used in the Helsinki Declaration […]

Author: Basak Ceyda Meco, Joana Berger-Estilita, Karina Jakobsen, Finn M. Radtke ‘How are our patients doing in the postoperative period?’ This query should constitute a vital inquiry within the realm of safety metrics.   Anaesthesiology has been a pioneering discipline in patient safety for decades, demonstrating sustained and progressive efforts in propagating fundamental standards and guidelines […]

Grenoble, France 11 – 12 May, 2023 Faculty: Dr Daniel Arnal, Madrid, Spain Dr Julien Picard, Grenoble, France Dr Stefan Gisin, Switzerland ESAIC held the fifth edition of our Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Crisis Simulation Masterclass in May: Helsinki Declaration through High Fidelity Simulation. During the COVID crisis, we innovated this course to be one […]

Author: David Whitaker, Guttorm Brattebø Improving patient safety is a very demanding and complex challenge, and despite years of numerous initiatives from many stakeholders, patients are still being hurt in health care.1 The view on avoiding unnecessary harm has changed from targeting the individual health care provider towards a broader perspective. Still, we often use […]

Author: Jannicke Mellin-Olsen It is no coincidence that the first stakeholder mentioned in the Heads of Agreement of the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology (1) is patients:   “Patients have a right to expect to be safe and protected from harm during their medical care and anaesthesiology has a key role to play improving patient […]

Author: Benedikt Preckel In anaesthesiology – as in other medical specialities – we learn from what goes wrong. We register complaints, incidents and adverse events and try to learn from them and improve our management. This is most frequently called a Safety-I approach: clear guidelines and protocols have been developed to agree on unambiguous working […]