Publications IPH Magazine Annals of Summaries: 38th Congress of Hospital Administration and Health Management Interview with Scientific Coordinator of Patient's Quality and Safety Congress

IPH - We would like you to give us a general panorama. What were your expectations for the congress, what did you discuss in your lecture and what was your overall expectation for this event in 2015. 

Antônio Lira - Well, starting with the latter, I think the Hospitalar 2015 reinforces the importance of health services. I believe that the Congress and the Fair reflect, even more, not only the importance but also the growth of the area in our country and the influence our country has on fraternal countries, above all here in South America and Portuguese-speaking countries. Therefore, I believe that this is a very interesting context for us attending this fair for some years now. 

About the Congress, I'm the scientific coordinator and chairman of the Patient's Quality and Safety Congress. I'm one of the front-line executives of this Congress, this challenge, for the second year in a row. This year's Congress, in a way, complements last year's, when our focus were more on discussing the improvement in patient's safety worldwide, draw attention to the international goals concerning patient's health, which is a commitment of the World Health Organization within this logic of the reinforcement and launching of the National Program for Patient's Safety in 2013 to which we belong. I represent Hospital Sírio Libanês, Sociedade Beneficente de Senhoras do Hospital Sírio Libanês, I'm the hospital technical superintendent and for me it is an honor to be among the front-line executives of this Congress. 

This year we are ratifying a commitment to transparency, especially regarding full disclosure of data, the discussion of each institution's data. We are supporting this cause, supporting that institutions should be even more transparent to the patient and society in general. I believe this is a very important time for the Congress, we emphasize the matter regarding patient's safety but now trying not just to duplicate the international goals, but also to show how much the matter of safety in the daily routine of the institution can be portrayed. So we had a conversation in a very interesting panel about safety that is a way of measuring how much safety is part of the institution's course of action.

We also had a broader approach concerning the matter of drug tracking that is always an important issue related to the patient's quality and safety. Since drug-related mistakes in general are the most common adverse events that happen. So I think this was a very important lecture. We reinforced the importance of Whole Health, trying to leave the hospital ambience and, like in every chain of patient care, safety can be present and how safety becomes an element and one of the pillars sustaining the wholeness of patient care.

Finally, we had the lecture given by our Colombian friend about accreditation in his country that gave a general panorama concerning patient's safety in the country and in Latin America. Besides, there was a specific panel about safety within the hospital environment focusing more on the infrastructure of processes and computerization. There was a warning concerning the latter, discussing how an attempt of improvement in safety can sometimes bring risky elements that we must be aware of. Generally speaking, this was a panorama of the Congress and I believe that the Fair was quite powerful and interesting for everybody.