Patient Safety and Its Components

Patient safety is an important branch of knowledge, which has emerged within the past two decades1. However, the definition and structure of the field remain nebulous despite its wide acceptance and legitimacy. Therefore, it is crucial to define and present the structure of patient safety in order to create a shared image of the concept.
Patient safety could be defined as the elimination of damages in patients, as well as a state of no possible harms to patients. In this regard, ‘patients’ and ‘harm’ are defined based on the cultural constructs in different regions and epochs. With the progress of communities, individuals might be included and excluded from the proposed definitions of ‘patients’ and ‘harms’ as these concepts constantly evolve throughout time.