Keep the celebrations short

“Success without victory” in patient safety Patient safety seems irritatingly positive. Its scientific literature and conference proceedings are replete with tales of improvement and stories of success. This is partly understandable. It is difficult to move people and organisations to change when the outcome is uncertain; hospitals and funding organisations do not like to hear that projects in which they have invested have failed; “safety champions”—the individuals who are the driving forces for change—passionately want to succeed; publication is not eagerly sought when high hopes have been deflated; and editors may fear inducing a paralysing “learned helplessness” in readers. Like Cassandra in ancient Troy, the few lonely voices1,2 cautioning that the road to safer care might be long and hard, that the outcome is in doubt, and that “success” (however we define it) once achieved might be difficult to hold, have largely been marginalised, drowned out by the upbeat …