World Patient Safety Day 2025: Safe Care for Every Newborn and Every Child
September 17, 2025Share:
On September 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls on healthcare systems around the globe to prioritize “Patient safety from the start,” a commitment to protect every newborn and child from preventable harm. The campaign urges action across five global goals: improving diagnostic accuracy, enhancing medication safety, preventing healthcare-associated infections, reducing risks for small and sick newborns, and engaging families as safety partners.
In 2024, Nicklaus Children’s Health System partnered with NAHQ to strengthen pediatric safety through quality-driven transformation. Our teams engaged in NAHQ training programs, gaining shared tools and language to reduce variation, implement sustainable change, and improve outcomes.
One example was the Pediatric Resuscitation Committee Revamp. Recognizing the unique risks children face during in-hospital cardiac arrest, Nicklaus Children’s rebuilt its resuscitation infrastructure by leveraging or using NAHQ'S Healthcare Quality Competency Framework™ to focus efforts.
Pediatric resuscitation demands more than speed, it requires exact dosing, age-specific tools, and seamless teamwork. This initiative enhances survival and recovery for children in critical moments and reflects a deep commitment to trauma-informed, family-centered care.
Additional initiatives supported by the competencies within NAHQ’s framework and WHO’s global goals include:
- Pediatric Stroke Pathway: Formalized a time-critical protocol using process mapping to improve diagnostic accuracy
- Safe Surgery Checklist: Redesigned to enhance role clarity and team communication in the OR, reducing procedural risk
- Morbidity, Mortality & Improvement (MM&I): Shifted case reviews toward learning and system improvement, engaging interdisciplinary teams to strengthen pediatric safety practices
These efforts demonstrate how Nicklaus Children’s is translating quality competencies into measurable impact. On World Patient Safety Day, we call on our fellow pediatric healthcare institutions everywhere to utilize the NAHQ Healthcare Quality Competency Framework to make safe care for children a priority from the very start.
Contributed by:
Janice Lee Yanez, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CPPS
Director of Patient Safety and Patient Safety Officer
There is a roadmap to healthcare Quality excellence. NAHQ can help you follow it.
The NAHQ Healthcare Quality Competency Framework™ serves as the industry-standard, defining the Quality Safety competencies, skills and behaviors required to advance Quality & Safety excellence across the healthcare continuum.
This expert-created, data-informed framework is continuously validated and updated by NAHQ to ensure it provides the most up-to-date information, guiding professionals, organizations, and the healthcare industry to create a competent, coordinated workforce prepared to deliver healthcare excellence.
