Quality Team of the Year 2026: Award for innovative collaboration in Graz

High praise for a pioneering joint project: LKH-Univ. Klinikum Graz, the Medical University of Graz and CANCOM have been jointly awarded the title of “Quality Team of the Year 2026”. Since 2015, Quality Austria has been recognising outstanding achievements in quality management. On 18 March 2026, the project “SiMed – safe medication with the support of artificial intelligence” was honoured – a strong signal for innovation and patient safety in the healthcare sector.

Patient safety in hospitals is of paramount importance. A key concern here is the prevention of medication errors, which can have serious consequences. Medicines are dispensed to patients with great care and, wherever possible, in accordance with the dual-control principle; billions of doses are administered completely correctly. Nevertheless, thousands of people worldwide die every year as a result of medication errors in hospitals. 

A combined project involving compliance management in routine operations, coupled with the ‘Safe Medication’ (SiMed) research project, has set itself the goal of a) raising staff awareness of the frequency of errors in the medication process and b) developing a fully digital medication process. Through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), safety is to be maximised and the following types of errors avoided

• Mixing up medicines 
• Incorrect dosages
• Overlooking allergies and interactions 
• Mixing up patients

An error-free medication process is crucial to the quality of patient care.

Together – one goal – US!

• The team at the QM-RM Unit, which is responsible for reviewing safety standards at the LKH University Hospital Graz 
• The team from the Research Unit for Safety and Sustainability in Health Care at the Medical University of Graz, responsible for developing the scientifically sound research project. 
• The team at CANCOM AG, our business partner with expertise in AI. 

The SiMed project is already in the final stages – following the completion of the regulatory clinical trial, the SiMed project is expected to be finalised later this year and will be available as the CLAIRE medical device, significantly improving the medication process in hospitals.

The Quality Team of the Year 2026 award highlights the successful interdisciplinary collaboration and the shared commitment of all those involved to the highest quality standards in the healthcare sector.

Special thanks go to the entire winning team for their dedication and innovative spirit.