For Patients and Their Loved Ones: Tips for Staying Safe in the Hospital
For their reference, patients and family members should see these Lourdes brochures:
- A Patient's Guide to Safety
[67K PDF] - A Patient's Guide to Safety in Spanish
[142K PDF]
Patient safety is a top priority at Lourdes Health System. And patients have an important role. As an essential member of their healthcare team, patients play a critical part in their own safety.
Research shows that patients who take part in their care, including in decision making, have better outcomes. Good communication and taking responsibility are the keys.
To succeed as part of the patient safety team, patients should:
- Choose a hospital, clinic, surgery center or other type of healthcare organization that can prove its quality standards.
- Tell caregivers about:
- all the medicines they take, including prescription medicine, over-the-counter medicine from the drugstore, herbal medicine or supplements and vitamins. Patients should bring these medicines to every appointment, and should know and understand their medications list.
- all allergies, including food allergies. Patients should indicate what happened when they had any kind of allergic reaction in the past.
- any notable or significant past health problems. Patients should indicate who treated them,
how and for what, so that their caregiver has their complete history.
- Ask questions! And speak up! It's your body and you have a right to know. Don't assume things.
Patients should feel comfortable in:
- asking what the caregiver is doing and why.
- saying that they don't understand.
- asking caregivers to explain again or in different words.
- Have a trusted family member or friend accompany them. These representatives can serve as another set of eyes and ears, and a voice—and can offer patients comfort and support. For a variety of reasons, patients may have trouble making themselves heard all on their own or at all times, especially when they don't feel well. Family and friends can help, and they can often "fill in the blanks" on important questions. Family members or friends who know the patient's medical history are especially helpful.
- Take notes on all aspects of care. Or have a friend or family member do so. This will help later when it's necessary to recall care steps, instructions or explanations.
- Tell caregivers if something does not seem right physically or in terms of care. Patients should learn all they can about their conditions, and cares steps and options. They should be educated consumers and pay attention to their healthcare. if, according to their knowledge, experience or expectation, a care step doesn't seem consistent or right, patients should inquire about it. They should stay attuned to what they are experiencing physically—and communicate this information.
- Understand current medication regimen. Patients should know their up-to-date medications, and how
and why they take them. Mistakes with medication are the most common form of medical error.
If a caregiver removes, adds or adjusts medication in your regimen, understand why. With a new medication, ask:- What is this medication for?
- What is the dose? And when is the next dose?
- What are the side effects?
- Tell caregivers if symptoms change. Patients know themselves best and often know first when something changes. If something feels different, patients should tell their healthcare provider.
- Wear their wrist-bracelet ID at all times. And make sure that their doctor or nurse checks their wristband, or asks or knows their name, before administering medication or other treatment.
- Know which medical professional is in charge of their care and whether their primary-care provider will visit them in the hospital.
- Tell their caregivers if they have an infection or just got over one.
- Tell loved ones NOT to visit the hospital if THEY are sick.
- Make sure that they and everyone around them in the hospital (family, visitors and healthcare staff) washes their hands regularly.
Lourdes also urges its patients to help make Lourdes' Falls Prevention Initiative a success.
- Lourdes' Falls Prevention Initiative [English, 47K PDF]
- Lourdes' Falls Prevention Initiative [Spanish, 47K PDF]
Tip: Remove clutter from the area where patients will be walking. Send home any items that the patients doesn't need. Ask the staff for help in clearing the path, especially when equipment is in the way.
Helpful patient-safety links:
- Ways patients and their
family members can help prevent medical errors
-- from the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Learn about common
medication issues
-- from the National Council on Patient Information and Education - How consumers can avoid medication errors
-- from The Institute for Safe Medication Practices
