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Current Awareness Literature Alert: March #2, 2012
On Apr 09, 2012 | Comments...
Chatting About Patient Engagement…And More
On Mar 09, 2012 | CommentsThis week, the National Patient Safety Foundation (also known as “@theNPSF”) held a Twitter chat in recognition of Patient Safety Awareness Week. Although our focus was patient engagement, the conversation took a few turns. In case you missed it, we’ve summarized some of the key points for you here.
Review an edited transcript (in reverse chronological order) [PDF format].
Communication
We shared a link to NPSF’s new video, which demonstrates the Ask Me 3 program in action, then asked, “What other questions can patients ask? Or what more can they do?” Among the suggestions:
- Be sure to ask questions of all health providers, including pharmacists, infection control personnel, and others, not just your primary care providers.
- Be sure questions are asked and answered, so they are fully understood.
- Write questions down so you don’t forget them during the visit.
- Take notes
- Bring a “second set of ears”—a family member or friend who can help you remember everything.
One participant said, given how busy clinicians are, she is sometimes reluctant to ask too many question. That led to a discussion of time constraints in the modern health landscape. According to one participant, Jerome Groopman, MD, has estimated that doctors interrupt patients within the first 18 seconds of a visit.
We asked people to share some of their favorite videos or tools for patients. Not surprisingly, the AHRQ’s patient resource, Questions Are the Answer, was widely tweeted. Participants also shared information about medication safety and the safe disposal of prescription medication.
Health Literacy
We asked if low health literacy may be a reason for a lack of engagement by some patients. One participant shared a source that says 53 percent of adults have only intermediate levels of health literacy. Participants shared links to health literacy resources:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation resources: http://t.co/OXZAHyTA
NPSF, Words to Watch: http://www.npsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AskMe3_WordsToWatch_English.pdf
Also recommended by one participant: follow @Hlth_Literacy on twitter.
Raising Awareness
Of course, one of the major goals of Patient Safety Awareness Week is to raise awareness of the issue. Someone we follow, @SusanCarr, asked what people are reading this week, and that yielded links to great articles sparked by PSAW:
Informing the Journey, Not Changing the Destination by Jim Conway on the Health Care For All blog, http://t.co/P97dB0WS
@ClaudiaNichols writing for Pilot Health Advocates, http://t.co/YDzSnzJV
@TrishaTorrey writing on why the word “celebrate” is the wrong word for Patient Safety Awareness Week, http://t.co/ZcPSAJIR
Trisha Torrey rightly points out that “celebrating” is not really what the week is about. “Recognizing” or “commemorating” Patient Safety Awareness Week are probably better ways to think about it.
With that in mind, we want to make sure that everyone saves the date for next year: Patient Safety Awareness Week will be March 3-9, 2013.
Ask Me 3 Video Released
On Feb 27, 2012 | CommentsPatient engagement remains a critical untapped lever in the health care environment. In advance of Patient Safety Awareness Week, NPSF has released a new video derived from its Ask Me 3 program, a patient education program designed to promote communication between health care consumers and providers. The program encourages patients to ask, and understand the answers to, three questions:
- What is my main problem?
- What do I need to do?
- Why is it important for me to do this?
The video is available to the public at no cost. Watch below, or visit the Ask Me 3 section of the website.
Current Awareness Literature Alert: February #1, 2012
On Feb 21, 2012 | CommentsFebruary (1) 2012 | Volume 16, Issue 2:1
New Website for NPSF
On Dec 30, 2011 | CommentsNPSF Has a Brand New Website!
Our redesigned site has been improved for better navigation and easy access to information about membership programs, events, and resources for health care professionals and patients.
Visitors will also note handy drop-down menus to help find content quickly, news and important dates on the home page, and links to our social media sites.health professionals at computer
Attention ASPPS and Stand Up Members
You will be able to access members-only content on the site, such as Current Awareness Literature Alert and Focus on Patient Safety.
Members should have received an e-mail with the subject line [National Patient Safety Foundation] Your Username and Password. That e-mail message will contain your new username and a system-assigned password. You will need to visit the site and log in with those credentials to change your password.
ASPPS Members: View a short video on how to change your password.
Stand Up Members: View a short video on how to change your password.
If you have any questions about the new site, send an e-mail to info@npsf.org
Members who have not received their login information are asked to call us at 617-391-9900.
Interprofessional Education and Health Care Simulation Survey
On Dec 28, 2011 | CommentsThe Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) is offering an Interprofessional Education and Healthcare Simulation Symposium, January 27 and 28, 2012. The symposium will immediately precede the 12th Annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (Jan 28–Feb 1, 2012).
Visit the Society’s website for more information about the symposium and the meeting.
Take the Society’s survey on Interprofessional Education and Healthcare Simulation.
2012-2013 AHA-NPSF Comprehensive Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship
On Dec 23, 2011 | CommentsApplications Being Accepted Through March 15, 2012
Patient Safety and the Family Caregiver
On Dec 01, 2011 | CommentsNovember was National Family Caregiver Month. What better time to recognize the important role family members play on the health care team? NPSF President Diane Pinakiewicz, MBA, recently wrote an article about Patient Safety for Take Care!, the newsletter of the National Family Caregivers Association.
Read the full article in Take Care!
Promoting Patient Safety: What Family Caregivers Can Do
On Nov 15, 2011 | CommentsBy Diane C. Pinakiewicz, MBA, President, National Patient Safety Foundation
November was National Family Caregiver Month. This article is an excerpt from a recent issue of Take Care!, the newsletter of the National Family Caregivers Association. Read the full article online.
If you are caring for a family member or loved one, it’s important for to think of yourself as his or her advocate. Being engaged and asking questions are probably the most important things you can do to keep your loved one and yourself safe from medical errors.
In the Hospital
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, launched the Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs, with the goal of making hospital care “safer, more reliable and less costly.” Although this initiative seeks to reduce all causes of harm, the primary areas of focus include medication errors, hospital-acquired infections, surgical-site infections, pressure ulcers, falls, and obstetrical adverse events.
When the person you are caring for is hospitalized, here are some things you can do:
- Talk to your loved one about his or her wishes regarding communication with the clinical team. If he or she wants you to know everything that’s going on, be sure the doctors and nurses know that, so that you can be fully involved in the treatment plan.
- Make sure that hospital staff check your loved one’s identification before any treatment, tests, or procedures.
- Learn about hospital-acquired conditions and whether your loved one is at risk. Ask what protocols are followed to avoid these conditions.
- If your loved one is at risk of a fall, ask how that risk is communicated to different members of the team and what methods the hospital employs to minimize the risk.
- Find out if the hospital has a medical emergency team (MET) or a rapid response team, and when it is appropriate to seek their help. These teams respond when a patient’s condition appears to be deteriorating. Many hospitals empower families and patients to activate such teams if a medical condition is worsening.
- Never turn off an alarm on medical equipment in the assumption that “someone will be coming.” Let the medical team respond, and alert them if they do not respond quickly.
- Don’t be shy. Now is not the time to keep silent if you think something is not right — or even if you are simply confused. Speak up about safety practices, such as hand washing, if you don’t see them happening.
- Recognize that common safety practices apply to you, too. Wash your hands (or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer) before entering your loved one’s room. If you have a cough or cold, stay home so as not to spread it to others.
- Before your loved one is discharged from the hospital, be sure you understand what the next steps are for follow-up care.
At the Doctor’s Office or Pharmacy
Although the vast majority of healthcare is provided in outpatient settings, most of the research about patient safety has been done in hospitals. Some in the patient safety field consider outpatient care the “next frontier” in this work.
Here are some things to watch out for when visiting the doctor’s office or the pharmacy with your loved one:
- Help your loved one prepare in advance for a doctor’s appointment by updating his or her list of medications and writing down any questions.
- Make sure each medical or pharmacy staff member taking care of your loved one verifies his or her identification.
- Know what medications the doctor has prescribed, what they are for, and how they should be taken. Understand the treatment plan and what the patient needs to do.
- If lab tests or radiologic studies are ordered, be sure they are completed. Follow up to get the results. Don’t assume “no news is good news.”
- Make sure the members of your loved one’s clinical team know you and how to reach you.
- As with hospital care, don’t be shy about speaking up if you think something is not right. All the basic safety practices, such as hand washing, apply just as much in the outpatient setting as in the inpatient setting.
Excerpted from “Patient Safety: How to Protect Your Loved One From Medical Errors.” Reprinted from Take Care! (Summer 2011, Vol. 20. No. 2) by permission of the National Family Caregivers Association, Kensington, MD, the nation’s leading organization for all family caregivers, 1-800-896-3650, or http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/.
