Joint EPUAP & EWMA Pressure Ulcer Prevention & Patient Safety Advocacy Project
EPUAP and The European Wound Management Association (EWMA) are collaborating on a joint engagement in the PU prevention and patient safety agendas at the European level as well as at the national level in selected European countries.
Patient safety has for some years been high on the European Commission health care agenda. At the EU level as well as at national levels of many European nations, considerable investments have been made by health care authorities to establish organisations and programmes addressing the patient safety agenda.
Looking at the patient safety agenda from a wound care perspective, the topic of Pressure Ulcer (PU) prevention has always been central due to the fact that most PU’s are preventable if the patient is managed correctly by health care staff. Consequently, both EPUAP and EWMA have separately been advocating for the prevention of PU’s as major health care and patient safety issue. Whereas EPUAP, in particular, has strongly supported the annual STOP Pressure Ulcer campaign, EWMA has in collaboration with the Eucomed Advanced Wound Care Sector group earlier engaged in raising attention in the European Parliament and the European Commission in connection with the EU Joint Action on Patient Safety and Quality of Care (PaSQ) programme.
Activities achieved and expected
- An epidemiology overview based on existing European prevalence data is in progress. This is coordinated by Professor Zena Moore with a presentation held at the EPUAP 2017 annual conference, 20-22 September in Belfast.
- Consecutive meetings between Professor Lisette Schoonhoven and the chair of OECD Health Care Quality Indicators expert group since November 2016
- Meetings between the project group and selected representatives of the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament, to raise awareness and call for preventive action against the development of PUs in particular.
- Regular publication and dissemination of information and articles about patient safety and PU prevention
- Joint presentations at the annual conferences of EWMA and EPUAP. The first of these took place at the EWMA Amsterdam conference 3-5 May 2017
EPUAP – EWMA Articles on Patient Safety across Europe
The perspective of pressure ulcers
The time to invest in patient safety and pressure ulcer prevention is now!
Diabetic Control & Pressure Ulcers – fighting fatal complications and improving quality of life
EWMA & EPUAP added-value to OECD efforts
The role of pressure ulcers in the fight against antimicrobial resistance
Pressure ulcer monitoring: a process of evidence-based practice, data sharing and joint efforts
Disability in Europe: the invisible burden of pressure ulcers
Joint working group
- EPUAP representatives: Prof. Zena Moore (chair), Prof. Lisette Schoonhoven, Prof. Jane Nixon, Dr Jan Kottner
- EWMA representatives: PhD Jose Verdu Soriano (chair), Prof. Andrea Pokorná, Dr Hubert Vuagnat.
Resources
Please consult the following resources for further information about the topic of patient safety and pressure ulcer prevention at the European level.
- The Economics of Patient Safety: Strengthening a value-based approach to reducing patient harm at the national level. Published by OECD, March 2017. Download here.
For any questions or comments please contact:
- EPUAP secretariat: Adina Markova, adina@codan-consulting.com
- EWMA secretariat: Jan Kristensen, jnk@ewma.org
The project is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from:
