[How patient safety programmes can be successfully implemented - an example from Switzerland]. 
Internationally, the implementation of patient safety programmes poses a major challenge.  In the first part, we will demonstrate that various measures have been found to be effective in the literature but that they often do not reach the patient because their implementation proves difficult.  Difficulties arise from both the complexity of the interventions themselves and from different organisational settings in individual hospitals.  The second part specifically describes the implementation of patient safety improvement programmes in Switzerland and discusses measures intended to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of implementation in Switzerland.  Then, the national pilot programme to improve patient safety in surgery is presented, which was launched by the federal Swiss government and has been implemented by the patient safety foundation.  Procedures, challenges and highlights in implementing the programme in Switzerland on a national level are outlined.  Finally, first (preliminary) results are presented and critically discussed.