Patients encouraged to play bigger role in ensuring safety

Joint Commission campaign encourages patients to "speak up" and become partners in the health care process.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. April 1, 2002.

While physicians and hospital officials work to improve patient safety, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is urging someone else to join the effort: The patient.

With the support of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Joint Commission launched its Speak Up campaign, which aims to empower patients (or their advocates) to ask questions about the quality and direction of their health care.

Joint Commission president Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, encouraged patients to speak up if they don't understand why a test or procedure is being performed or if a pill doesn't look like what they expected.

Despite the attention given to the 1999 Institute of Medicine report that stated that medical errors may cause up to 98,000 deaths a year, Dr. O'Leary said not enough has been done to remedy the situation.

"The frequency of medical errors and the effects they have on patients are the single most pressing health care issue of our time," Dr. O'Leary said.

"Despite significant efforts ... there is no clear evidence that meaningful reductions in health care errors have been achieved."

In an effort to reverse this trend, Dr. O'Leary announced that Speak Up campaign buttons and brochures will be distributed to 5,000 Joint Commission accredited hospitals and health care institutions. Staff are encouraged to wear the buttons, and the brochures will be made available to patients.

The brochures spell out how patients can take an active role in the health care they receive: [...]