World Organization of Family Doctors C Ruth Wilson

World Organization of Family Doctors C. Ruth Wilson Past President North American Region Professor Emerita Department of Family Medicine Queen’s University, Kingston Canada

Wonca’s Mission Improving the quality of life of the peoples of the world. Fostering & maintaining high standards of care in general practice/family medicine. Promoting personal, comprehensive and continuing care for the individual in the context of the family and community. Encouraging and supporting the development of academic organizations of GPs/FPs

About WONCA Began with 18 member organizations in 1972 Grown to member organizations in over 160 countries and territories Represents over 600, 000 GPs / FPs Over 3 billion consultations annually by our family doctor members Interacts with world bodies, eg WHO and World Medical Association

@WONCA_QSafety

Working Party on Quality and Safety Virtual international group of family doctors Third global challenge is a priority Recent workshop series at Wonca World Conference on topics of medication safety in primary care Family doctors are main prescribers of medication in primary care setting

Working Party on Quality and Safety: Activities Establish across the world, regional networks of family doctors interested in quality safety in family medicine. Facilitate the exchange of ideas through conferences, reports, communication and through collaborative research, Increase the capacity of those involved in quality and safety in healthcare, Develop a leadership for quality and safety in family medicine; Provide mutual support within the regions; Serve as a resource for concepts and methodologies for safety and quality in family medicine, such as principles of guidelines development, patient outcomes measures, practice assessment tools, or partnerships with patients for quality in health care; and Conduct education and other sessions at strategic regional and international WONCA conferences.

http: //equip. woncaeurope. org/ @EQui. P_Quality https: //www. facebook. com/equip. wonca. europe

Unfolding the challenge into Primary care

Some data… Several international studies have shown that medication is the leading cause of patient safety incidents in primary care. Medication errors occurs when weak medication systems and/or human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions or staff shortages affect: prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, adminitration and monitoring practices which can then result in severe harm, disability and even death. There are many factors which will increase the frequency of these incidents: population ageing, polypharmacy, high-risk medications…

Drivers Medications are the major technology used by family doctors We see the adverse effects of polypharmacy and adverse reactions in our daily practice What has been/what could be the barriers for organizations to support the implementation?

Barriers Lack of interoperable electronic medical records impeding medication reconciliation at transitions of care Time and administrative burden of reporting adverse outcomes Lack of tools specific to primary care

Next step Continue to raise awareness in regions and country-level member organizations via educational work of quality and safety working party Develop practical tools for use in primary care for med rec and adverse reaction reporting

WONCA World Family Doctors. Caring for people. Promoting Excellence in Family Medicine