Abstract
Patient safety in midwifery is a continuous process grounded in quality, shared responsibility, and ongoing improvement. The 5th FNOPO National Congress 2026 will address the major challenges facing the profession, including clinical risk management, safety governance, education, simulation, research, organizational innovation, and the prevention of violence against healthcare workers. The Congress promotes an integrated vision of safety based on multidisciplinary collaboration, lifelong learning, humanized care, and the active involvement of women in care pathways. In a rapidly evolving healthcare environment, midwives are called to lead change by contributing to the development of safer, evidence-based, and person-centered models of care.
The safety of care is not a destination. It is a journey. It is a culture. It is reflected in the choices we make every day as we care for women, newborns and families while safeguarding the integrity of our profession. For this reason, the 5th FNOPO National Congress “SAFETY IN MIDWIFERY CARE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND INNOVATIONS”, that will be held in Lecce on October 16 and 17 (2026), will not just be a scientific event. It will be an opportunity for collective reflection on the role that midwives are called to play in a changing healthcare system, increasingly oriented towards quality, effectiveness, innovation, and accountability.
We have chosen to dedicate the Congress programme to safety in midwifery care because focusing on safety means addressing the quality of care, the organisation of services, education research, and the ability to work together. But it also means talking about trust. The trust that every woman places in the professionals who care for her during one of the most important moments of her life. Safety is not simply the absence of errors. It is, rather, the ability to build systems that learn from mistakes, that analyses them without assigning blame, and that invests in prevention and in development of professional competencies. It is a shared responsibility that involves professionals, institutions, universities, scientific societies, and citizens.
The role of midwives goes far beyond the childbirth. Midwives support women throughout their lives by promoting health, prevention, education, and continuity of care. They provide postnatal home visits and work across community services, primary care, and hospital settings. This role combines technical expertise with compassionate care, scientific evidence with attentive listening, and innovation with humanity. It is precisely this holistic vision that makes safety a core value that passes through every aspect of our work.
The Congress will address key themes that represent the major challenges of the profession: clinical risk management, safety governance, university and continuing education, clinical simulation, professional responsibility, obstetric emergencies, research, organisational innovation, and the prevention of violence against healthcare workers. These will not be single topics but part of a single overarching vision: to build a system in which safety is the result of the integration of skills, organisation, and professional culture. Safe care also depends on genuine multidisciplinary collaboration, in which each professional contributes their expertise for a common goal: the best possible care for every individual. The alliance between professionals is built through a common language, mutual trust, and respect for each person’s skills. Only in this way is it possible to guarantee truly safe, appropriate, and woman-family-centered care pathways.
Attention will also be paid to the evolution of education. Scientific knowledge is evolving rapidly, as are the technological tools available to healthcare professionals. For this reason, investing in education means investing directly in the safety of care. Simulation, research, continuous professional development, and multidisciplinary interaction are now essential elements for addressing increasingly complex care settings.
Alongside the technical dimension, we will continue to preserve the human dimension of care. The humanization of care is not an accessory element, but one of the prerequisites for safety. A woman who is well informed, listened to, actively involved in decision-making, and whose physiological processes are respected is a woman who becomes an active partner in her own care. And it is precisely this therapeutic alliance that represents one of the most effective tools for improving care outcomes.
We live in a time of great changes. Demographic evolution, new technologies, artificial intelligence, personalized medicine, and the reorganization of territorial care are deeply transforming the way healthcare is delivered. The midwifery profession is called upon to lead this change, not merely adapt to it. With competence, vision, and a sense of responsibility. The Federation will continue to work to ensure that midwives play a leading role in this transformation, valuing the profession’s expertise and promoting care models that are increasingly safe, appropriate, and close to people’s needs.
Lecce will provide an opportunity for dialogue, but above all a starting point. Because safety does not belong to a single event, nor to a single profession. It is a daily commitment that is built together. And together, we will continue to shape the future of Italian midwifery.
Silvia Vaccari
President FNOPO