The 2026 edition will focus on long-distance races

From September 14 to 18, 2026, Patient Safety Week will be held in conjunction with the World Patient Safety Day initiative led by the World Health Organization.
The chosen theme— “Noncommunicable Diseases: Providing Safe Care” —marks a turning point: safety is no longer limited to the act of care itself; it now encompasses the entire patient journey.

Noncommunicable diseases: a major patient safety issue

Noncommunicable diseases (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, mental health disorders) require long-term, complex, and evolving care.

In these situations, the risks are not always obvious. They often emerge gradually. Patient safety then becomes a matter of ensuring continuity and consistency over time.

Diffuse but cumulative risks

Unlike acute conditions, chronic conditions expose patients to repeated and cumulative risks.

An adverse event is rarely caused by a single error. It is most often the result of a series of minor deviations.
This is particularly evident in analyses of the medication pathway, where the complexity of real-world situations makes it difficult to strictly adhere to protocols.

Polypharmacy: A Key Risk Factor

Polypharmacy is a key area of concern in the context of noncommunicable diseases. It increases the risk of drug interactions, dosing errors, and patient misunderstandings. These common situations require constant vigilance and a structured approach, which is addressed in training programs aligned with the French National Authority for Health (HAS) guidelines on medication safety.

The patient as an active participant in their own safety

In the management of chronic conditions, patients play an active role in managing their own health. They are involved in taking their medications, monitoring their symptoms, and making day-to-day decisions. This requires ensuring not only sound professional practices but also patient understanding and autonomy. Approaches focused on the patient experience and patient-centered care help to better integrate this aspect.

Ensuring safe routes: an organizational challenge

The 2026 theme highlights the need to shift from an act-centered approach to a patient-journey-centered approach. This necessitates improving the reliability of information sharing between the city and the hospital. Coordination among healthcare professionals, as well as with the patient and their family, is essential. These skills are at the heart of training in human factors and team communication, which are essential for ensuring reliability in complex situations.

A week to take concrete action

Patient Safety Week aims to strengthen the culture of safety, disseminate tools, and highlight initiatives. Its impact, however, depends on how well teams embrace it. When used as a tool for professional development—particularly through simulation and structured debriefing—it helps establish concrete and sustainable practices.

Toward Sustainable Patient Safety

Noncommunicable diseases require us to rethink patient safety from a long-term perspective.

Reliability no longer depends solely on protocols, but on the system's ability to:

• adapt
• coordinate
• anticipate

Patient safety thus becomes an integral part of the care pathway, rather than just the individual procedure.

‍