Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety

The Declaration builds on earlier statements about safety and quality of care. It represents a shared European opinion of what currently is both worth doing and practical to improve patient safety in anaesthesiology in 2010. The Declaration recommends practical steps that all anaesthesiologists who are not already using them should include in their own practice. These are relatively straightforward and where they are currently being used have a track record of improving patient safety. All European anaesthesiology institutions are expected to support the World Health Organization(WHO) 'Safe Surgery Saves Lives' initiative including the "Safe Surgery Checklist". The Declaration was endorsed by European Board of Anaesthesiology (EBA) and the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA). It was officially launched at the Euroanaesthesia congress in Helsinki in June 2010 and was subsequently signed by several representatives of European anaesthesiology and different additional stakeholders (WHO, World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), European Patients Federation (EPF)).

In cooperation with INABBRA (Innovation Alliance Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany) the investigators would like to ask medical colleagues in the region to participate in an anonymous German online survey on patient safety.

The investigators want to investigate the implementation and establishment of measures on patient safety, that anaesthesiologists utilize to fulfill their obligations under the perspective of the Declaration.