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Patient Safety

Patient safety requires all members of the health care team to play an active role -- practitioners, hospital staff and patients. Standards designed by the health care industry and patient safety groups hold both health care professionals and members accountable. Here's what you can do to help keep your patients safe.

  1. Know your patient's rights and responsibilities
    It is a patient's right to have understandable instructions, legible prescriptions and clear explanations. Additionally, patients are responsible for being completely honest and open about their symptoms and medical and drug histories.
  2. Communicate with your patient
    Provide each patient with a written treatment plan on when and how the test results will be communicated, instructions for medication and other action the patient must take. When you have a patient who is in the hospital, visit your patient, confirm the treatment plan and talk to other health care professionals who are caring for your patient.
  3. Improve communication among caregivers
    For example, implement a "read back" process for taking verbal or telephone orders also for receiving critical test results.
  4. Write clear prescriptions
    Make sure the prescriptions you write are legible. Write both the brand name and generic name on the prescription. Give your patient verbal and written information about how to use the drug, and let them know about any drug interactions and side effects.
  5. Organize your office and sites of care
    Designate an area in your office for charts requiring updated information. Standardized exam room set-ups reduce the risk of a caregiver picking up the wrong instrument or supply. Mark sound-alike and look-alike packages with stickers and store them separately from each other. This will prevent clinicians from making avoidable mix-ups.

The following resources are available to you for information and to assist in the continuation of safe practices. Unity encourages all participating practitioners and providers to be actively involved in patient safety practices. View Unity’s provider participation in Leapfrog and Wisconsin CheckPoint .

www.leapfroggroup.org
This website provides reporting about hospitals who voluntarily report and participate in Leapfrog initiatives. Leapfrog gathers and reports information on hospital quality and patient safety efforts to help patients make informed decisions about where to receive hospital care.

http://www.wisconsinhealthreports.org
Healthclick Wisconsin is the first website to offer a centralized home for health care information for Wisconsin. Today, Healthclick Wisconsin links you to the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the Wisconsin Hospital Association's CheckPoint websites. These sites contain current, reliable information about medical clinics and hospitals located throughout Wisconsin.

www.wipricepoint.org
A subsidiary of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the WHA Information Center is dedicated to collecting and providing information about services provided by Wisconsin Hospitals.

http://www.metastar.com/
The Doctor's Office Quality - Information Technology (DOQ-IT) project, sponsored by MetaStar, is a national initiative, promoting the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and Information Technology (IT) in physician offices. The project aims to increase access to patient information, decision support and reference data, as well as to improve communications between patient and clinician.

www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has launched the 100,000 lives campaign. The campaign has suggested implementing 6 changes in care proven to prevent avoidable deaths.