Tag: Patient Safety Awareness Week

3 Ways to Improve Patient Safety

3 Ways to Improve Patient Safety

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

This blog article celebrates Patient Safety Awareness Week. As a non-profit 501c3, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) is dedicated to improving patient safety and improving the quality of patient care.

However, it is not just organizations like the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) American Society for Health Care Risk Management (ASHRM), or even PPAHS that are needed to improve patient safety. This responsibility lies with each and every one of us.

Continue reading “3 Ways to Improve Patient Safety” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (March 18, 2017)

This week in #patientsafety, we marked Patient Safety Awareness Week.

We want every week to be patient safety awareness week, so we published an article about saying so. We also shared a story written by a mother whose son died after a nursing error. From around the web, we highlight research on sepsis and opioid prescribing practices. We also direct you to an article from Canada looking at whether patients should feel comfortable taking opioids after surgery.

From PPAHS:

Patient Safety Awareness Week Needs to Be Every Week. We join others in calling on leaders to make every week patient safety awareness week at their healthcare facilities.

A Nursing Error Led to My Son’s Unexpected Death. This is the story of how the unmonitored use of patient-controlled analgesia and nursing errors led to the unexpected death of a mother’s only child (and how it might have been prevented).

From Around the Web:

Researchers Identify Biomarker that Predicts Death in Sepsis Patients. Duke scientists have discovered a biomarker of the runaway immune response to infection called sepsis that could improve early diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment to save lives.

Surgeons were told to stop prescribing so many painkillers. The results were remarkable. Despite the clickbait-y headline, this Washington Post article is legitimate and tells the story of how Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center reduced the number of opioid pills they prescribed.

Should I be concerned about taking opioids after surgery?. For those in Canada, here’s a Globe and Mail article asking whether patients should be afraid to take opioids after surgery. The comments are worth reading; and share your opinion if you feel it appropriate to do so.

Patient Safety Awareness Week Needs to Be Every Week

By Sean Power

“Competent and thoughtful leaders contribute to improvements in safety and organizational culture.”

—The Joint Commission, Sentinel Event Alert 57

Earlier this month, The Joint Commission released Sentinel Event Alert 57, The essential role of leadership in developing a safety culture, calling on leaders to prioritize and increase the visibility of everyday actions that create a culture of safety.

There is no better time to amplify that message than Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 12-18, and we are calling on leaders to make every week patient safety awareness week at their healthcare facilities. Continue reading “Patient Safety Awareness Week Needs to Be Every Week” →

3 Ways To Improve Safety for Patient Safety Awareness Week

This week (March 13-19) is Patient Safety Awareness Week.

The National Patient Safety Foundation says the campaign is “designed to spark dialogue and promote action to improve the safety of the health care system for patients and the workforce.” Continue reading “3 Ways To Improve Safety for Patient Safety Awareness Week” →