Doctor Safety Books is a global patient safety education initiative designed to help children aged 6–12 learn about safer healthcare through friendly, engaging stories. By introducing key concepts such as speaking up, asking questions, and collaborating with caregivers and healthcare professionals, the initiative empowers children to actively participate in their own care. Developed by World Patients Alliance in collaboration with Elsevier and the Elsevier Foundation, the initiative offers multilingual books, videos, and educational resources, contributing to improved health literacy, prevention, and fostering a culture where safer care becomes the norm.

Objectives

The campaign recognizes that millions of people are harmed each year while receiving medical care, and many of these incidents are preventable. By building awareness from childhood, Doctor Safety aims to create a future generation that understands the importance of patient safety and feels confident participating in safer care. The main objectives of the Doctor Safety Books initiative are to:

• Introduce patient safety education to children aged 6–12 through simple, friendly, and engaging stories.
• Build early awareness of safer healthcare practices, helping children understand that patient safety starts with knowledge, confidence, and participation.
• Empower children to speak up, ask questions, and work together with parents, caregivers, teachers, and healthcare professionals during healthcare experiences.
• Promote health literacy and prevention by teaching essential safety lessons in a way that children can understand and remember.
• Make patient safety resources accessible globally through free multilingual books, videos, and educational materials.
• Support families and educators with tools that encourage conversations about safety, responsibility, and better healthcare decisions.
• Contribute to a future culture of safer care, where children grow into informed patients and caregivers who understand that many healthcare harms are preventable.

Target Audience

• Primary: Children aged 6–12, helping them learn about patient safety through simple, engaging, and age-appropriate stories.
• Secondary: The wider support network around children, including parents, caregivers, teachers, schools, healthcare professionals, patient organizations, and community groups. They play an important role in sharing the books, guiding discussions, and reinforcing key safety messages in homes, classrooms, healthcare settings, and communities.
• Broader reach: General public, as the campaign promotes a shared culture of safer care and encourages everyone to understand patient safety as a collective responsibility. By making the books available in multiple languages and formats, the initiative also aimed to reach families and communities globally, especially those who can benefit from accessible, child-friendly health literacy resources.

Key Activities and Approach

Doctor Safety Books uses storytelling and visual learning to translate complex healthcare concepts into accessible and engaging content for children. Key components include:

• Development of illustrated storybooks explaining patient safety concepts
• Translation into multiple languages to ensure global accessibility
• Free online access to downloadable and print-ready materials
• Complementary videos and educational resources to make the learning experience more engaging and suitable for children, parents, and educators
• Distribution through schools, hospitals, families, community networks, and patient organizations to encourage reading sessions, discussions, and awareness activities around safer healthcare
• Collaboration between the World Patients Alliance, Elsevier, and the Elsevier Foundation to develop and share trusted patient safety education materials globally

Impact and Result

The initiative has achieved significant global reach and engagement:

• Books available in at least 10 languages, supporting wide international accessibility
• Over 15,000 copies distributed free of charge
• Downloadable, print-ready versions supporting wider distribution
• Increased awareness of patient safety among children and their support networks
• Encouragement of proactive behaviours such as asking questions and speaking up
• Integration of patient safety discussions into homes, classrooms, and healthcare settings

Overall, the initiative contributes to strengthening health literacy and fostering a shared responsibility for safer care.

Insights and Takeaways for Others

Building a culture of safer care begins with education. Empowering children today helps create more informed patients and communities in the future.

• Patient safety education can start early when delivered in a simple, positive, and engaging way
• Children are not just passive recipients of care; they can become active participants by learning to ask questions, speak up, and understand basic safety practices
• Storytelling and visual tools are powerful methods to communicate complex health concepts
• Accessibility (free resources, multiple languages) is key to maximizing impact
• Multi-stakeholder partnerships (involving schools, parents, patient organizations, and healthcare professionals) greatly enhance reach, credibility, and long-term impact

For others developing similar initiatives, it is important to keep materials simple, culturally adaptable, visually engaging, and accessible in different languages and formats.

Additional Resources and Contact

• Website: https://docsafety.org/