2019 Patient Safety Awareness Week
In honor of patient safety awareness week, we encourage everyone to learn more about healthcare safety.
We would like to devote these seven days to increase your awareness about patient safety in the eyes of all healthcare professionals and the public.
What better way to do that than to provide you with our five tips for improving and advancing safety in the ambulatory setting!
Encourage all caretakers and leaders to partner with their patients and families
When you are injured, you want the safest and most compassionate care possible. The patient and their family should feel comfortable and confident that they are going to get the best care possible.
Utilize Technology
Nurses have so many tasks to accomplish and with keeping close eye on every patient on the floor, it can get overwhelming to stay organized. However, electronic records are easier to access, share, and keep organized so that everyone can have the same list and keep up-to-date records.
Make sure that your doctor has reviewed all your medical history. With electronic prescriptions there will be 50% fewer errors compared to manual and handwritten prescriptions.
Your health always comes first
Do not just visit a doctor when you’re in immense pain; even if you suspect something might be wrong, schedule a visit right away to address the issue and further investigate it. Too many patients wait out their pain or suspicions until it is too late or until the problem has already caused damage.
Understand your treatment
In order to make the process easier on you and your doctor, ask questions if you do not understand something. Once prescribed, you need to know all the limitations, research the components of your treatment, and ask if you need to have the test or procedure and what alternative options there are.
Review any medications with a pharmacist, and if something seems off, call your doctor immediately.
Speak Up
Doctors and patients must work together to generate optimal health care solutions. If you have an issue do not be embarrassed to talk about it, if you have any questions, ask until you understand it.
The overall goal is to understand each other from patient to doctor. This will help the doctor assess your state and help you get better quicker.
Patient Safety
Failure to communicate between team members has resulted in over 1,700 patient deaths over the last couple of years, and malpractice has cost U.S. hospitals billions.
Doctors need to be adamant in providing the upmost care to their patients. This means following all these tips as well as communicating with other medical decisions.
Malpractice is one of the biggest mishaps in the health care industry. If you need a malpractice lawyer call or message Rob Levine & Associates for a free consultation!
