September 17 is World Patient Safety Day!
World Patient Safety Day 2026, observed under the theme “Safe care for noncommunicable diseases,” highlights the importance of protecting patients living with long-term conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), noncommunicable diseases account for approximately 74% of deaths worldwide and often require continuous care throughout a person’s life. Ensuring that this care is safe, timely, coordinated and of high quality is therefore a global public health priority.
The 2026 campaign focuses on five key goals: partnering with people with lived experience and civil society; strengthening prevention and risk assessment; providing early detection, accurate diagnosis and integrated management; securing access to and the safe use of medicines and medical devices; and strengthening care coordination, continuity and transitions of care. Together, these priorities emphasize that patient safety is not a single clinical intervention, but an ongoing responsibility shared by healthcare professionals, educational institutions, patients, families and communities.
At Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA), patient safety has been recognized as a central element of modern clinical practice and a direct determinant of healthcare quality. As part of TMA’s PSI curriculum (Patient-Centered, Student-Oriented, Integrated and Inquiry-Based), students begin discussing patient safety, disease prevention and risk assessment from the earliest stages of their education, including through the integration of patient safety as a dedicated subject/module. This approach ensures that patient safety is introduced not as an isolated concept, but as an essential component of medical education and future clinical practice.
For many years, Healthcare Service Quality and Patient Safety has been a mandatory course within the Academy’s educational program. The course covers the fundamental principles and contemporary approaches to patient safety, healthcare quality assurance and continuous quality improvement. It enables students to apply the knowledge they acquire in practice and contribute to creating a safe, high-quality and patient-centered healthcare environment.
Through its previous World Patient Safety Day activities, TMA has further emphasized the need to raise awareness, strengthen professional education and encourage medical students to understand that patient safety must remain a daily priority throughout their future careers. As a medical education institution, TMA believes that meaningful discussion of patient safety should begin during the earliest stages of medical training and continue throughout the development of every healthcare professional.
World Patient Safety Day provides an opportunity to connect medical education with the wider public good. By equipping students with knowledge of prevention, risk assessment, communication, clinical reasoning, safe prescribing, continuity of care and respect for patients’ lived experiences, academic institutions can help build a more responsible and resilient healthcare system. TMA remains committed to promoting a culture in which patient safety is discussed, practiced and strengthened every day, supporting safer care for individuals and communities affected by noncommunicable diseases.