[The emergence of patient safety issues in France]

The objective of this study was to elucidate the conditions of emergence of patient safety issues in the public debate and the limits to implementation of patient safety in the current health system.

A narrative review of the international literature was conducted by searching PubMed, Cairn and Persée databases.

The database search retrieved 2,206 documents, 48 of which were included in the study. The theme of patient safety has spread worldwide, but emerged late in France. The delayed emergence of patient safety in France is essentially related to the euphemistic approach to the problem of patient safety, the difficulty of adopting systematic reasoning, the lack of human resources management levers and the ambiguous position of patients in relation to patient safety.