Patient safety in emergency medicine: report on 4 years' implementation of a program designed for the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)

Emergency departments (ED) and Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) are areas where there is high risk of adverse events and incidents that affect patient safety. In 2008 the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES) initiated a program to promote a patient safety culture in ED and EMS. The program included training in patient safety, the analysis of incidents with and without patient harm, and the development of proactive tools to detect risk during emergency interventions. Outcomes of this program include the establishment of a network of 176 instructors in emergency patient safety and the EVADUR and CULTURA studies to determine the types of incidents and adverse events in our ED and EMS, their causes and preventability, and the level of safety and safety culture within organizations. The results make it possible to draw an emergency service risk map. After 4 years the program has provided information on patient safety in Spanish ED and EMS and allows us to develop guidelines for devising risk reduction strategies for this setting. [Emergencias 2012;24:225-233]