eHealth, the application of information communications technology (ICT)-based systems and services, has been identified to fundamentally improve patient safety in clinical contexts. As a result, the European Commission launched the eHealth safety study at the beginning of 2006.

The study was designed to help European policy-makers, particularly research policy decision-makers, to understand the role of ICT in making European patients’ experiences more safe and secure. The study set out to discover how ICT tools can help and how European research support programs can improve patient safety.

To date, the study, which highlights ICT applications implemented in practice, has produced the following findings:

• Any field must be well-grounded in empirical research, which is equally true of eHealth for safety.
• Knowledge development predominantly occurs in multi-disciplinary and interactive settings.