By Rebecca Densmore and Danielle Ran
The National Patient Safety Foundation has announced that March 2 through March 8 is National Patient Safety Awareness Week. The purpose of the week is to educate health-care workers about processes and tools that contribute to the delivery of safe care, as well as to educate consumers about actions they can take to contribute to their own safety.
People can do many things to ensure safer health care. First, be sure to ask questions and discuss concerns with one's physician during office visits. Write down questions ahead of time and take them along to appointments. It may be worthwhile to consider taking someone along to office visits to help ask questions and help to remember the answers. While meeting with a care provider, the patient should report any health or symptom changes he or she may have had or is currently having. This will help the physician tend to the patient's health-care needs.
Next, patients should know their medications. Write down and carry a list of medications, over-the-counter or prescription, including dosage and how often the patient takes them to show the physician or pharmacist. Additionally, be sure to let them know about any allergies. Don't forget to ask about side effects and what to avoid while taking a prescription medicine. Carefully read the medicine label, including all warnings, and make sure the medicine is what the doctor ordered. Take the medicine exactly as prescribed.
Do not hesitate to ask the pharmacist about the medicine if it looks different than expected or if one does not understand the instructions for how to take it. At home, be sure to rid the medicine cabinet of old or expired medications which could be harmful to one's health.
Preventing infections is also a very important aspect of patient safety. When people cough or sneeze, they should cover their nose and mouth with a tissue or use the bend of their elbow rather than their hands. Be sure to wash hands thoroughly and often, and, when necessary, remind the health-care provider to wash his or her hands.
Everyone -- physicians, health-care executives, nurses and technicians -- has a role in making health care safe. Organizations across the country are working to make health-care safety a priority. The patient also can play a vital role in making his or her care safe by becoming an active, involved and informed member of the health-care team.
Rebecca Densmore is the program manager of quality and regulatory management at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Danielle Ran is a strategic services representative at the Medical Center.