Personal Injury Law

Patient Safety Awareness Week Begins to Improve Patient Communication

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

This weekend Business Wire discussed an initiative that begins this week?The National Patient Safety Foundation?s Patient Safety Awareness Week. The event starts on Monday, March 6th and continues until the 12th. The week is intended raise awareness of the continuing problem of preventable medical errors. It also strives to provide outlets for accurate information to be shared about the problem, so that its prevention can be discussed by all those concerned with the health and safety of medical patients.

As we?ve often reported on this blog, patient safety remains a pressing problem across the country. The Institute of Healthcare Improvement explains that each year there are over 15 million incidents of medical harm in American hospitals. The cost of those errors has been estimated to increase Medicare payments by a staggering $8.8 billion. Thousands and thousands of patients ultimately lose their lives because of these mistakes, with millions of friends and family member affected every year as well.

The week-long Patient Safety Foundation effort seeks to advocate for efforts to reduce these sobering statistics. Various complimentary organizations take part in the effort with a variety of patient safety events. For example, one group known as ?Engaging the Patient,? is using the time to educate patients about the ways in which they can actively talk with their medical providers to improve the care they receive. Talking with medical professionals and asking necessary questions remain an important way to ensure proper, thorough, error-free medical care.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on March 06, 2011 (boomark / email).