Patient Ombudsman ©
For the current position as a Patient Ombudsman on voluntary activity is appointed by the General Assembly:
Dr. Jasna Karacic – Zanetti, Health diplomacy expert
Thanks to her ambition and strategy with aims to utilize the International Council of The Patient Ombudsman © resources in preventative approach in the health system to ensure patient safety and rights a priority; emphasizes the importance of learning from mistakes and allocate specific resources for improving patient and healthcare provider satisfaction.
Dr. Jasna Karacic Zanetti - Health diplomacy expert
Dr. Jasna Karacic Zanetti is the Head of the Health Diplomacy Unit of International chair in bioethics (Former UNESCO chair). She holds a Ph.D. in Health Diplomacy and Patient Rights. She served as a diplomat during the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020. As a counselor for the health ministries, her role involves developing protocols and guidelines based on scientific research that can be implemented in diplomatic practice. Due to her efforts in promoting the scientific principles of person-centered medicine, she was elected as a Patient Ombudsman by the International Council of the Patient Ombudsman© during a general assembly. She completed the Health MBA training program at IESE Business School. She also holds consultative status with the United Nations as a responsible person for patient rights. Within the Diplomatic Academy, she is a lecturer specializing in health diplomacy. She is assigned “Young Leader” for health crisis management in 2021 and serves as national coordinator for a worldwide association of women forensic experts. In recognition of her achievements, she has received the Rector’s Award for Achievements at the UNESCO level for human rights in medicine and the National Geographic Award for Justice in sustainable development goals.
In 2016, she is elected for president of the Croatian Association for the Promotion of the Patients’ Rights and afterward, due to the effort made for the engaging scientific rule in person-centered medicine became a Patient Ombudsman by the International Council of the Patient Ombudsman©. The main purpose results in supporting the involvement of protection of patient rights and safety in the curriculum of medical universities that may stand as a landmark in the relationship between doctor-patient. Following this, she published a student manual „Patient-based medicine“ which addresses how to deal with the challenge of a medical career while together delivering the best care in the eyes of the patient and as an outcome she established a „Best medical practice Award“ for the doctors.
After graduating in forensic science with the thesis of forensic psychiatry from the University of Split in Croatia, she specialized in medical law where she earned a master’s in Patient safety from the University of Padova in Italy.
She achieved further education in psychotherapy with the primary goal of promoting communication between the patient and the healthcare providers, focusing on preventive measures in order to prevent complaints.
She completed a specialized UN training program on a Diplomatic academy organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and become a member of the diplomat network.
During study as an outstanding student with many significant extracurricular activities, she was rewarded with a university international fellowship and attended a Harvard Clinical Bioethics Course as a visiting researcher.
She is a member of the Cochrane global network in Croatia and Belgium, where she works on the project title „Professionalism in healthcare“ for obtaining a Ph.D. dissertation. At the postgraduate study on medical law, she is a guest lecturer.
She is actively engaged in scientific work and invited as a keynote speaker worldwide. She is the author of abstracts and publications which research has focused mainly on health politics and global health diplomacy including human-patient rights, patient safety, health literacy, informed consent, clinical risk, medical law, bioethics, legal and forensic science, health management, etc.
She was a candidate for the WHO Technical Advisory Group on behavioral insights and sciences for public health.
On the strength of the fighting for anti-corruption policy in the healthcare system, she has also become recognizable far beyond Croatia, and her work is recognized by the European Police Association with offering an honorary membership.
From 2017 she became part of the Council of the Croatian Government for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia and helps people in cross-border health care.
In 2018, she became involved in the working group by creating the Health Protection Act and the Commission of the Ministry of Health for establishing the criteria for the development of the hospital health network institution. She is a member of advisers for the local Health Council.
At the request of the Public Ombudsman to prepare the Ombudsman’s report on the work submitted to the Parliament, she submits relevant statistics, research, and conclusions, important for the evaluation of human rights and the suppression of discrimination.
On the call, she readily accepts the invitations to voluntary work.
She is a fluent speaker in Croatian, English, Italian and elementary in French.
She is autonomous in socio-political and public life, independent and not affiliated with any political party.
“The pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light;
they do not complain of evil, but increase justice;
they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith;
they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.“
Abraham Isaac Kook