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A recent study shows that one in seven Medicare patients in hospitals experience a medical error. But medical errors can occur anywhere in the health care system — at hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and even patients’ homes.
Errors can involve prescriptions, surgery, diagnosis, equipment or lab reports. Most errors result from miscommunication. The best way you can help prevent errors is to be an active member of your health care team. That means taking part in every decision about your health care.
Research shows that patients who are more involved with their care tend to get better results.
Here are some tips to help us provide safer care for you:
01. Make sure all of your providers know about every medicine you are taking.
02. Bring all of your prescriptions and supplements to your medical appointments.
03. Make sure your provider knows about any allergies and adverse reactions you have had to medicines.
04. Ask for information about your prescriptions in terms you can understand.
05. When you pick up your medicine from the pharmacy, ask, “Is this the medicine that my provider prescribed?”
06. Speak up if you have questions or concerns.
07. Make sure your health care team has your important health information; do not assume everyone has all the information.
08. Know that “more” is not always better. It is a good idea to find out why a test or treatment is needed and how it can help you.
09. If you have a test, do not assume that no news is good news. Ask how and when you will get the results.
10. Learn about your condition and treatments by asking your provider and nurse and by using other reliable sources. For example, treatment options based on the latest scientific evidence are available from the Effective Health Care website www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/options.
(Contributed by Sharon Franklin, 86th Medical Group Patient Safety)
