Standardising Patient Safety Related Outcomes in European ICUs: The SAFE-ICU COST Action

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a challenging environment, where healthcare professionals are delivering highly specialized care to critically ill patients and their families. Healthcare professionals in the ICU are not only tasked with delivering complex care and treatments but must also ensure this care is delivered safely and efficiently. The core of ICU clinical practice is the imperative to prevent harm. Nevertheless, extensive evidence demonstrates that avoidable patient harm persists worldwide, affecting both developed and developing healthcare systems which can present consequences for patients and healthcare organizations. Ensuring patient safety has therefore become a central goal in healthcare improvement efforts, especially within ICUs, where the high level of complexity increases the likelihood of medical and nursing errors compared to other hospital settings.