{"id":633,"date":"2012-06-25T11:37:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T15:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hnetalk.com\/Member\/?p=633"},"modified":"2012-06-25T11:37:09","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T15:37:09","slug":"patient-safety-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/patient-safety-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Patient Safety Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-663 alignright\" title=\"patient_doctor_opt\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/03c4283.netsolhost.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/patient_doctor_opt.jpg?resize=350%2C234\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/patient_doctor_opt.jpg?w=350&amp;ssl=1 350w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/patient_doctor_opt.jpg?resize=300%2C201&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>Being an educated patient might be the best defense against medical errors. One of the most frequent factors in medical errors is poor communication. If you\u2019re familiar with your condition and ask good questions, you can do a lot to ensure safer care.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You can use the safety tips below as a starting point:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be prepared for your visit. Write down your questions, and don\u2019t be afraid to ask them.<\/li>\n<li>Learn as much as you can about your conditions and treatments.<\/li>\n<li>Ask all healthcare workers who have direct contact with you to wash their hands before caring for you.<\/li>\n<li>Ask a family member or friend to stay with you during appointments or hospitalizations so he or she can help you communicate and understand.<\/li>\n<li>If you are in the hospital or an out-patient setting, make sure each person checks your ID bracelet or verifies your name before giving you medications, treatments, or procedures.<\/li>\n<li>Ask your physician to explain any treatment plans in terms you understand.<\/li>\n<li>If you have a test, make sure you receive and understand the result. Call your doctor\u2019s office if you haven\u2019t heard back within a reasonable amount of time.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that each physician who is providing care to you is aware of the other physicians you are seeing.<\/li>\n<li>Understand that more treatment is not always better. Unnecessary treatment might cause harm.<\/li>\n<li>If you are having surgery, make sure that you, your physicians, and your surgeons agree on what will be done. Make sure the correct site on your body is marked before surgery.<\/li>\n<li>Establish and maintain a personal health record that you share with your family.<\/li>\n<li>Be aware of any patient safety event that arises and discuss it with your health care providers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For prescription drug safety:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tell your physicians and pharmacist everything that you are taking (prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbs, and dietary supplements).<\/li>\n<li>Ideally, get all of your medications from one pharmacy.<\/li>\n<li>Ask if there are any lab tests or other tests you should have regularly as long as you are taking the medicine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Please visit Questions Are the Answer<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/questions\/\" target=\"_blank\">ahrq.gov\/questionsaretheanswer<\/a>) at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website for videos, tips, and resources to help put you in the driver\u2019s seat when it comes to your health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being an educated patient might be the best defense against medical errors. One of the most frequent factors in medical errors is poor communication. If you\u2019re familiar with your condition and ask good questions, you can do a lot to ensure safer care. You can use the safety tips below as a starting point: Be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2012"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/patient_doctor_opt.jpg?fit=350%2C234&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZGa-ad","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}