The "SAFE@KCH" project between the Wiesbaden Institute for Healthcare Economics and Patient Safety (WiHelP) and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe, Malawi, was established as part of the Hospital Partnerships funding programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation (EKFS), implemented by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The aim of this project is the sustainable implementation of WHO recommendations to ensure patient safety, particularly in perioperative care.

The hospital partnership project kicked off with the German project partners visiting the KCH in Malawi in September 2021 to assess the current situation, possible barriers to implementation and the need to adapt the WHO recommendations to the local context. In June 2022, the Malawian delegation visited the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences to exchange expertise with various German healthcare facilities and train the first Patient Safety Ambassadors as well as to discuss the implementation of patient safety measures with hospital staff in German healthcare facilities.  Following the joint creation of training materials in close coordination between the project managers, further Patient Safety Ambassadors were successfully trained in the hospital's own setting in March 2023 by the KCH staff trained in Wiesbaden. In the following months, the newly trained Patient Safety Ambassadors will implement measures to achieve the Joint Commission's International Patient Safety Goals in QM projects.

Following the joint creation of training materials in close coordination between the project managers, further Patient Safety Ambassadors were successfully trained in the hospital's own setting in March 2023 by the KCH staff trained in Wiesbaden. In the months that followed, the newly trained Patient Safety Ambassadors implemented measures to achieve the Joint Commission's International Patient Safety Goals in QM projects.

In addition to the training of Patient Safety Ambassadors, further positive developments can now be observed: The topic of patient safety is becoming more and more of a focus for healthcare staff at KCH. The safety measures to be established, such as operating theatre checklists, have been adapted to the existing framework conditions and are increasingly being used in everyday clinical practice. A local and sustainable way of procuring patient wristbands for patient identification was also found. There continues to be a lively exchange between the project partners in regular meetings and the next steps to improve the safety of patient care are already being planned.

If you have any questions or comments about the project, please contact Prof. Reinhard Strametz (reinhard.strametz(at)remove-this.hs-rm.de) or Hannah Rösner (hannah.roesner(at)remove-this.hs-rm.de).

• Katantha M, Jingini E, Boy S, Roesner H (2022). Development and Design of the Project “Safe@KCH” to develop a sustainable partnership for the implementation of patient safety elements with special consideration of the needs of LMIC. Beitrag bei der Internationalen Konferenz der International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua)
• Kanyangalazi R (2022). Development and design of the project “Safe@KCH” to develop a sustainable Partnership for the Implementation of Patient Safety Elements like Safe Surgery, Safe Childbirth, Safe Medication – Beitrag bei Malawi National Quality of Health Care Conference 2022
• Boy S, Ngoma J, Strametz R (2022). Development and design of the project “Safe@KCH” to develop a sustainable Partnership for the Implementation of Patient Safety Elements like Safe Surgery, Safe Childbirth, Safe Medication – Beitrag bei der ersten internationale Konferenz von Klinikpartnerschaften: Resilience & Solidarity in times of crisis