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Lesson 1: What is Patient Safety? An Overview for Patients

Estimated Completion Time – 15 minutes

Lesson 1 Description

What is patient safety all about? How can I help keep myself and my loved ones safe during medical treatment? These are the basic questions that patients need and want answered. In this course, you will learn how patient safety is defined and about the efforts of early patient advocates to improve health care quality.  The lesson ends with the important concepts of:

  • Trying to prevent harm from occurring to patients
  • Working to make medical errors as rare as possible
  • Encouraging patients and their advocates to speak up and voice all questions and concerns about medical treatment

Lesson 1 Objectives

After completing this course you will be able to:

  • Define patient safety
  • Explain a brief history of the patient safety movement as told by an early advocate
  • Understand the important concepts of “first, do no harm” and “getting to zero”

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Lesson 1: Who’s Who? The Hospital Hierarchy

Estimated Completion Time – 15 minutes

Lesson 1 Description

 

The hospital hierarchy is part of the daily routine for healthcare providers but it often leaves patients and their advocates completely in the dark. People you have never met dash in and out of your room dozens of times each day performing detailed tasks. What exactly are their specific duties and responsibilities? Who do you speak to if you have questions or concerns?

Reading name tags gives you a starting point but you need to know more than your providers’ names and titles. The definitions included in this lesson help clarify the roles of the people caring for you in the hospital and the organizational charts provide a basic outline of the chain of command.

We’ll show you why it is vital to understand the role of each person and the way your providers work together to keep you on the road to recovery.

Lesson 1 Objectives

 

After completing this course you will be able to:

  • Understand the medical and nursing chain of command
  • Define the roles of medical and nursing providers

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Lesson 2: Patient Safety Basics

Estimated Completion Time – 20 minutes

Lesson 2 Description

In this lesson, you will be introduced to the basic terms used in patient safety discussions and be given a link to find a complete listing of additional definitions. We will discuss the risks facing patients as determined by recent research and how much depends on a health care system that is safe and effective. The lesson concludes with the premise that we are all in this together and the changes that benefit patients are a step forward for the entire system.

Lesson 2 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Define general patient safety terminology
  • Understand the risks facing patients during medical treatment
  • Explain why patient safety is important and what is at stake for patients
  • Understand the concept of the greater good that patient safety advocates work to achieve in all medical settings

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Lesson 2: Who Do You Call? Getting Help In A Hospital

Estimated Completion Time – 20 minutes

Lesson 2 Description

 

Most hospital stays are relatively brief and uneventful. Medical treatment proceeds as planned, outcomes are successful and patients leave the hospital healthier than when they came in. But in some cases, hospitalization involves communication challenges and concerns that can’t easily be solved without knowledge of how to navigate the hospital system.

If at all possible, patients should plan to have an advocate with them during a hospitalization. Simply put, an advocate is someone who assists a patient while they receive medical care. Advocates provide encouragement and support and may help the patient with basic needs such as bathing, eating or walking.  Advocates may assume a more involved role by talking to providers, listening to treatment options, or keeping track of information in a patient journal.

Patients and their advocates are often unaware of the many resources that hospitals have available to assist them. Do you want someone to run interference between you and the medical staff and schedule a family meeting? Ask to meet with a social worker or case manager. Do you need help arranging extended visiting hours for a loved one? Speak to a patient relations staff member. There are individuals and departments dedicated to solving virtually every issue a patient may encounter – you just have to know who they are and when to turn to them for assistance.

Lesson 2 Objectives

 

After completing this course you will be able to:

  • Understand the importance of using a patient journal
  • Identify the individuals who can be helpful to you in the hospital
  • Understand the type of assistance each staff member can provide
  • Recognize when it is appropriate to move up the chain of command
  • Learn to speak efficiently to hospital staff using the SBAR technique

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Lesson 3: Rapid Response Teams

Estimated Completion Time – 20 minutes

Lesson 3 Description

 

When a patient has a true emergency, every minute counts. If a patient is seriously deteriorating, it can be too time-consuming to wait for the doctor to arrive or to try to climb the chain of command to reach a person with the authority to take action. Many hospitals have a system in place to address emergency situations quickly. In most hospitals, this takes the form of a rapid response team.

A Rapid Response Team (RRT) is an important safety resource for hospital patients and their advocates.  The Rapid Response Team may have different names in different hospitals, including Medical Emergency Team or MET. A Rapid Response Team is a group of hospital staff members who respond to the bedside at the early signs of a serious decline in the patient’s health.  A small amount of knowledge will help patients understand how and when it is appropriate to enlist the potentially life-saving assistance these special teams provide.

Lesson 3 Objectives

 

After completing this course you will be able to:

  • Understand the role of Rapid Response Teams
  • Identify the difference between Rapid Response Teams and Condition H
  • Anticipate the types of actions that will be taken by Rapid Response Teams

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Lesson 3: The First Steps in Your Patient Safety Journey

Estimated Completion Time – 15 minutes

Lesson 3 Description

In this lesson, we discuss the value of researching your symptoms and diagnosis and provide links to leading sources of information. It is important to think about people you can enlist as your advocates if you become ill or hospitalized and to know what things to consider when making your decision. A patient journal is a tool to use to track the progress of your medical care and to organize your questions and concerns. Speaking up about your medical care will be much easier to do once you have some basic information and the tools to help you stay focused and organized. Before you know it, you are taking the first steps toward being an engaged and empowered member of your health care team.

Lesson 3 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Understand the importance of researching your condition and identify leading sources of medical information
  • Make an informed decision on selecting an appropriate advocate
  • Use a patient journal to aid in keeping a record of your care and in documenting any questions or concerns
  • Understand the importance of speaking up about your medical care

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