THE PATIENT IN PATIENT SAFETY: STARTING THE CONVERSATION Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA Richard J. Holden Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN Rupa S. Valdez University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Jeffery Belden University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO Dean Karavite The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA Jenna Marquard University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA Robin Mickelson Vanderbilt University & Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN Naveen Muthu The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA Through a variety of activities, patients take active roles in their health, which may directly or indirectly influence safety and quality. We provide brief overviews of perspectives from researchers and practitioners conducting work on patient-centered topics to highlight the need for awareness and research on the role of the patient and informal caregiver in patient safety. BACKGROUND Patients take an active role in their health including self-care management, patient-provider communication, decision making, and other behaviors, which may directly or indirectly influence healthcare safety and quality. Oftentimes, non-medical or “informal” caregivers also take on responsibilities to care for and/or support the patient. Therefore, the active role of the patients and informal caregivers in healthcare safety and quality has recently been gaining operational and research traction in the patient safety community (Khan et al., 2016, 2017a; Weingart et al., 2005; Weissman et al., 2008). However, limited research exists in this area, necessitating awareness, discussion, and research across healthcare environments. Adopting a human factors systems perspective of the patient or informal caregiver as an active player alongside clinical professionals stimulates efforts to understand and improve the health-related “work” that patients and caregivers do (Holden et al., 2013; Valdez, Holden, Novak, & Veinot, 2015). At the heart of the emerging conversation on patients and informal caregivers as key contributors to patient safety and quality are numerous outstanding questions, including: 1. What roles do patients currently play in patient safety? 2. What opportunities exist for patients to participate in patient safety explicitly? Copyright 2018 by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved. DOI 10.1177/2327857918071048 Proceedings of the 2018 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care 173