Tips for you and your family when interacting with the healthcare system

1. Stay with your family member 24/7 

2. Keep a journal of the events of the day

3. Ask questions like "what do those numbers on the machine mean?

4. Immediately upon admission, work on getting discharged as soon as safely possible

5. Never ignore your instincts, be relentless and persistent

6. Check every drug and question that dose before it is administered

7. Stay with the patient at all times

8. If you are in a facility that is hostile towards vistors, find a new facility

9. Make sure your healthcare provider washes his/her hands prior to interacting with you or your loved one.

10. Never proceed with any treatment/procedure until all questions are answered

11. Remember, you have the right to refuse procedures, medications, etc...

12. Visit http://www.medicare.gov to compare hospitals and physicians in your area.

The Joint Commission-a health care accreditation agency has brochures for healthcare consumer use which can be found at http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/SpeakUp/

Training Must Change

Unmet Needs: Teaching Physicians to Provide Safe Patient Care

Boston, MA: Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation; March 2010.

Medical schools face an urgent need to transform their curricula to emphasize patient safety, according to this report from the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation. Based on a roundtable discussion among leading medical education and patient safety experts, this report concludes that the traditional curricular focus on medical knowledge and technical expertise must shift to incorporate key concepts in systems analysis and patient-centered care. The piece includes specific recommendations for medical school and academic medical center leadership to develop rigorous safety curricula and evaluation methods. The report also emphasizes the importance of a culture of safety in teaching hospitals, stressing that unprofessional behavior and authority gradients prevent students from reporting and learning from errors.