SAFEST news

News update from the SAFEST project (funded by the EU Horizon program under grant agreement no. 101057825)! SAFEST aims to improve patient safety in the perioperative pathway. We do this by standardization and harmonization of perioperative care in Europe.

The SAFEST project (started in June 2022 with a duration of 4 years) aims to improve compliance with evidence-based recommendations for perioperative care by 15% and reduce the frequency of surgical complications by 8% in ten participating 'implementation hospitals' across five countries. In the Netherlands, the Radboudumc and the Martini Hospital (Groningen) are participating. The Radboudumc is also a partner in this project; Hiske Calsbeek, Yvette Emond (both IQ Health) and Anita Heideveld-Chevalking (Department of Operating Rooms) are associated with this project as researchers.

Last year we delivered four Milestones to the coordinator (the Donabedian Institute in Barcelona) and one Deliverable to the EU officer. Our Work Package included prioritizing improvement goals, creating a common bundle of improvement goals, identifying determinants and developing the first concrete action plans in the participating hospitals. We are working closely with the NIVEL, also a partner in this project. The NIVEL is now taking over and starting a learning collaborative so that the hospitals can learn from each other.

The first publication appeared in June in PloS ONE and concerns the study protocol:

Valli C, Schäfer WLA, Bañeres J, Groene O, Arnal-Velasco D, Leite A, et al. (2024) Improving quality and patient safety in surgical care through standardisation and harmonisation of perioperative care (SAFEST project): A research protocol for a mixed methods study. PLoS ONE 19(6): e0304159. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0304159

SAFEST was also very recently well represented at the 40th International Conference of ISQua (Sept. 24-27, 2024, in Istanbul) with these contributions:

• Non clinical-specific interventions to improve patient safety in perioperative care process: an umbrella review. (Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tartu; IQ Health, Radboudumc);
• Barrier analyses in a multicenter implementation project to improve perioperative patient safety. (IQ Health, Radboudumc);
• Comparative analysis of perioperative patient safety policies in five European countries: findings from the SAFEST project. (OptiMedis, Hamburg);
• Enhancing quality of care and patient safety: preliminary results of four Horizon Europe Projects. (Avedis Donabedian research Institute (FAD), Barcelona);
• European consensus on a core measures set for patient safety in perioperative care (SAFEST project) (NOVA University Lisbon).

More information or to subscribe to the newsletter can be found at: Safest | Welcome (safestsurgery.eu)