Patient Safety Week (PSW) 2025: Protecting newborns and children from their earliest moments

Patient Safety Week (SSP) 2025 will take place from September 15 to 19, in line with the World Day organized by the WHO on September 17. This edition, entitled "Safe care for every newborn and child", highlights the imperative need to strengthen the safety of pediatric and neonatal care.

General presentation of Patient Safety Week 2025

a. History and context of the SSP

Patient Safety Week is an annual initiative organized by the Ministry of Health since 2011, aimed at raising awareness on a large scale about safety issues in medical care. In 2023, this week was aligned with the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Patient Safety Day, in order to give more impact to this cause on an international scale. Each year, a specific theme is selected to address specific and priority issues in the field of health safety.

Since its creation, SSP has enabled many significant advances, such as the widespread adoption of rigorous hygiene practices, improved management of medication risks, and the integration of patients and families into care processes. These achievements demonstrate the concrete and positive impact of this week of mobilization.

b. The importance of a week dedicated to pediatric care safety

In 2025, the choice to focus on the safety of care for newborns and children responds to a worrying observation: young patients are particularly vulnerable to medical errors and avoidable complications. According to international studies, incidents related to pediatric and neonatal care, particularly in resuscitation, are still too frequent.

This week, therefore, aims to massively mobilize all actors in the healthcare system, from hospitals to healthcare professionals, including families. It also aims to raise public awareness so that everyone becomes aware of their crucial role in the safety of care provided to the youngest patients.

SSP 2025 theme and slogan

a. 'Safe care for every newborn and child': why this theme?

The theme chosen for National Safety Week 2025 responds to a major health imperative: to drastically reduce the risks associated with the care of pediatric populations. Each year, thousands of children are victims of adverse events associated with care (AEASC), often due to avoidable errors. These events can have dramatic consequences on their long-term health and development.

This theme invites a deep reflection on current practices and calls for a general mobilization to strengthen protocols, specific training for pediatric care, and to actively involve families in decision-making processes related to the safety and quality of care.

b. Decoding the slogan "Patient safety from the start!"

The slogan adopted for this edition, "Patient safety from the start!", clearly expresses the commitment to protecting the most vulnerable from the moment they enter the healthcare system. It is a reminder that safety must be considered from birth, anticipating potential risks and implementing the necessary preventive measures.

This slogan also symbolizes a proactive philosophy of patient safety week, focused on prevention, anticipation, and education. It encourages hospitals to adopt a sustainable safety culture, raising awareness among both professionals and families about best practices to adopt from the earliest moments of children's lives.

Major challenges in pediatric and neonatal care safety

a. Specific risks related to pediatric care

Pediatric care presents specific risks due to the fragility of young patients and the complexity of their medical needs. These risks include medication errors, complications during invasive procedures, and nosocomial infections. Managing these risks requires advanced training for professionals and constant vigilance.

b. Focus on high-risk situations (complex deliveries, neonatal resuscitations)

Some medical situations, such as complex deliveries or neonatal resuscitations, require special attention due to their high level of technicality and stress. These interventions often involve multidisciplinary teams and precise protocols, where the slightest error can have serious consequences. This is why specific awareness and training are essential.

Key objectives of National Patient Safety Week 2025

a. Mass awareness: actions and concrete examples

The SSP 2025 provides for massive communication campaigns to raise public and professional awareness of the specific issues of pediatric safety. Planned actions include educational workshops, continuing education sessions, and media campaigns highlighting concrete cases to illustrate the importance of daily vigilance.

b. Empowering families: the importance of parental education

Empowering families is a central pillar of this edition. It involves giving parents the necessary knowledge to quickly identify worrying signs in their child and interact effectively with medical teams. Educational workshops and accessible resources will enable families to become full partners in ensuring the safety of care.

National roadmap 2023-2025 and its influence on 2025

a. Objectives and achievements of the previous roadmap

The national roadmap for improving the safety of patients and residents, developed for the period 2023-2025, constitutes a fundamental basis upon which the SSP 2025 strategy rests. Officially launched during SSP 2023, it sets precise priorities and objectives aimed at significantly strengthening the safety of care.

Key achievements of this roadmap include:

• The widespread adoption of reporting practices for adverse events associated with healthcare (AEAH), with a marked increase in declarations in French hospitals between 2023 and 2024.
• Enhanced integration of patients and families in clinical decision-making processes, with successful experiments in several French pilot hospitals where patients participated in the development of safety protocols.
• Substantially improved hospital hygiene practices through increased professional training and regular audits, which have significantly reduced the rate of nosocomial infections during this period.

These advances provide a solid foundation on which the SSP 2025 is based, capitalizing on positive results and clearly identifying areas for improvement, particularly those specifically affecting pediatric and neonatal care.

b. Strategic alignment between the roadmap and the 2025 theme

The choice of theme for SSP 2025, focused on pediatric and neonatal care, is perfectly consistent with the orientations of the 2023-2025 national roadmap. It explicitly identifies children and newborns as a population particularly sensitive to the risks associated with care.

The roadmap emphasizes several priorities taken directly from the SSP 2025, including:

• The development of specific training for professionals on complex pediatric care and critical interventions such as neonatal resuscitation.
• Promoting the active participation of families, considered as essential partners in improving the safety of pediatric care.
• Improving infection prevention practices, which is particularly crucial in pediatric settings where young patients are highly susceptible to contamination.

The strategic alignment between the national roadmap and the 2025 SSP thus ensures essential continuity and coherence for effective and sustainable results.

Active participation of healthcare facilities

a. How to effectively involve healthcare professionals?

The active participation of healthcare professionals is essential to the success of the SSP 2025. To ensure their engagement, several levers can be activated by healthcare facilities:

• Internal awareness: organizing information sessions, specialized conferences, and discussion groups allows professionals to better understand the specific issues of pediatric and neonatal care. Testimonials from families affected by incidents related to the safety of care can also raise awareness.
• Targeted practical training: hospitals can offer specialized training in medical simulation or practical workshops, particularly on critical topics such as medication errors in pediatrics or neonatal resuscitation.
• Valuing professional initiatives: Highlighting and rewarding medical and care teams that have developed innovative and effective safety practices helps reinforce a positive and stimulating dynamic within the hospital.

b. What types of events should be organized in your hospital?

To mobilize effectively for SSP 2025, hospitals can organize various impactful events, both informative and participatory:

• Interactive parent-caregiver workshops: these workshops offer parents and care teams the opportunity to discuss real-life cases, learn to communicate better together, and understand how to respond to pediatric or neonatal emergency situations.
• Full-scale simulations: by recreating emergency situations, such as pediatric resuscitations, hospitals can test and improve team reactions while raising awareness among professionals of the precise actions and strict protocols to be followed.
• Expert conferences: Hosting recognized experts in pediatric care safety facilitates the transmission of the latest knowledge and promotes the exchange of best practices between hospitals. These conferences may also include testimonials from families, which reinforce the emotional impact and awareness of the issues.

These diversified events allow establishments to strengthen their safety culture while actively involving each healthcare actor, from medical teams to families themselves.

Resources for a successful organization

a. Educational materials and tools provided by health authorities

To effectively support healthcare facilities in the success of their initiatives, the Ministry of Health and the Haute Autorité de Santé (French National Authority for Health) provide a variety of resources specifically tailored to the 2025 theme:

• Downloadable educational kits: Including posters, explanatory flyers, brochures for families on pediatric safety, and visual aids to raise awareness of best practices in childcare.
• Educational videos: Short and educational, these videos quickly raise awareness among a wide audience on key topics, such as infection prevention in pediatric settings or the rapid recognition of worrying clinical signs in children.
• Methodological guides: Concise and comprehensive, these guides offer scientifically validated standard protocols designed to improve the safety of pediatric and neonatal care.

These materials have been designed by experts in the field, ensuring their reliability and scientific relevance. Their simplified use allows hospitals to quickly integrate them into their action plan.

b. Training and webinars for professionals and families

In addition to educational resources, distance learning activities will be implemented to strengthen the skills of professionals and to accurately inform families:

• Specialized webinars: Organized in advance of SSP 2025, they address specific topics such as risk management in pediatric resuscitation, prevention of medication errors, and training in communication with families in acute stress situations.
• Certifying e-learning modules: accessible to all healthcare professionals, these online courses allow them to deepen technical topics such as pediatric emergency protocols, hygiene practices in neonatology, or the principles of drug safety.
• Virtual workshops for families: specially designed for parents, these interactive workshops aim to empower them in terms of health safety and help them better identify warning signs related to their child's health.

These courses, which are easy to access, are an effective lever for amplifying the reach of the week and ensuring a lasting impact beyond the event.

Best practices to adopt for a successful SSP 2025

To optimize the effectiveness of SSP 2025, here is a summary of the best practices observed during previous editions:

• Systematically involve families from the outset of event planning: their direct experience of care provides valuable insight and promotes engagement within the hospital community.
• Promote interactive and innovative formats: such as serious games, thematic escape games or error rooms, which stimulate the active involvement of teams and families.
• Ensure precise post-event follow-up: by systematically evaluating the results of the actions taken, integrating feedback in a logic of continuous improvement of the safety of care.
• Use testimonials from patients and families: their story allows for strong emotional awareness and reinforces the adherence of professionals to the proposed safety protocols.

Adopting these best practices ensures that each hospital has a structured, effective, and sustainable approach to the safety of the most vulnerable patients.

Conclusion: Mobilizing all forces for optimal pediatric safety from birth

Patient Safety Week 2025 represents an exceptional opportunity to mobilize all healthcare stakeholders in France around an essential issue: guaranteeing safe care for every child from birth. This week should not only be seen as a one-off event, but as a decisive step in the sustainable evolution of medical practices.

Healthcare facilities, by leveraging concrete resources and the experience of past editions, have all the keys in hand to achieve real progress. Close collaboration between professionals, health authorities, and families forms the foundation for enhanced security, capable of effectively protecting future generations.

"Patient safety from the outset" is more than just a slogan: it's a shared vision that's essential for the future of children's health in France and around the world.

‍