Assistance with the study: Marlene Dyrløv Madsen, Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation participated in structuring and finalising Chapter 8. Expert librarian Regina Küfner Lein, University of Bergen, performed literature searches and made substantial contributions to Chapter 11.

Financial support and sponsorship: the study described in Chapter 1 (three-phase investigation to assess the uptake and use of the Declaration) was funded by the European Society of Anaesthesiology, supported by the following industry partners: Philips Healthcare, Masimo International, Fresenius Kabi and Nihon Kohden Europe. These companies played no role in data collection, analysis or writing the article.

Conflicts of interest: BP participated in advisory boards for Laboratoire Aguettant, France; and Sensium Healthcare, UK, and received research grants from NovoNordisk, the Netherlands. SS received lecture fees from ASPEN Global which were donated to the European Patient Safety Foundation (EuPSF). GB is the founder and unpaid chair of the board of The BEST: Better & Systematic Team Training, a not-for-profit foundation. JMF consults for Micropore Inc, a manufacturer of CO2 absorbent. TF-B received lecture fees from MSD. ASH is funded by a postdoctoral grant (grant number: HV1172) from the Western Norway Regional Health Authority’s Patient Safety Program and received travel reimbursement from the International Federation of Nurse Anaesthetists. CJK received funding from the European Commission, Horizon 2020: Nightingale Project Precommercial Procurement, grant #728534. PM received grants from B. Braun Melsungen, CSL Behring, Fresenius Kabi and Vifor Pharma for the implementation of Frankfurt’s Patient Blood Management programme and honoraria for scientific lectures from B. Braun Melsungen, Vifor Pharma, Fearing, CSL Behring and Pharmacosmos. AP received a grant from the Health Foundation to support Learning from Excellence training. HUS is an employee of Draegerwerk AG & Co KGaA, Luebeck, Germany. AFS has acted as an expert advisor on patient safety to the WHO and the 2nd Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit in 2017. MMRFS research group/department received grants, funding and/or honoraria from The Medicines Company (Parsippany, New Jersey, USA), Masimo (Irvine, California, USA), Fresenius (Bad Homburg, Germany), Becton Dickinson (Eysins, Switzerland), Dräger (Lübeck, Germany), Pion (Aachen, Germany) and Demed Medical (Temse, Belgium). CPS did consultancy work for Philips Healthcare and is Principal Investigator of the VITAL II study. JWe received funding from the European Commission, Horizon 2020: Nightingale Project Precommercial Procurement, grant #728534. DKW is a Past President of the Association of Anaesthetists and Chair of the Patient Safety Committee of the European Board of Anaesthesiology. He has received lecture fees from Aguettant Ltd. and Medtronic, all of which were donated to Lifebox. KZ received grants from B. Braun Melsungen, CSL Behring, Fresenius Kabi and Vifor Pharma for the implementation of Frankfurt’s Patient Blood Management programme and honoraria for scientific lectures from B. Braun Melsungen, Vifor Pharma, Fearing, CSL Behring and Pharmacosmos.

AFS, DKW, JM-O and SS were the authors of the published version of the Helsinki Declaration for Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology.

Comment from the Editor: this Special Article was checked and accepted by the editors but was not sent for external peer review.

Presentation: none.

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