New patient safety social marketing and communication campaign strategy: Georgia case

Georgian Alliance for Patient Safety was established in 2005. The main goal of the Alliance was support of health care quality and safety improvement. In the period of 2005–2010 the following activities have been conducted: 1. Study of health care personnel and consumers: medication safety; responsibilities of the patient; safety culture; medical errors; review of patients’ complaints. 2. Trainings: training of physicians, nurses, and managers at hospitals and family medicine centers. 3. Development of conceptual document: Patient-centered health care implementation social marketing strategy and public relations communication campaign have been developed. 4. Analysis and review: the Strategy was reviewed in Georgia (policymakers, providers, consumers) and 5 meetings of International Initiative “Eastern European and Asian Organizations for Patient Safety” with participation of representatives from: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Republic Belarus, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.