This week is Patient Safety Awareness Week. Led by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), the aim for the week is to raise awareness of patient safety initiatives, improve the quality of health care, and to strengthen alliances between patients, families and their healthcare providers. All of the Atrius Health medical groups are very committed to this aim and focus daily on improving the care we provide.
We encourage all of our patients to learn about aspects of your care that will keep you safer, and to take an active role in the care you receive. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a few tips that will help to keep you safe.
Medication Safety – Preventing adverse medication reactions is a key element to providing safe patient care. As a patient, you can help your care team by keeping an accurate list of all of the medications that you take and bringing it with you to each of your appointments. This list should include not just those medications prescribed by a doctor but also over the counter medications, vitamins and herbal remedies. Ensuring that your medication list is accurate will help to prevent you from being prescribed a medication that could harm you.
Patient Identification – During your visit with us, you may be asked multiple times to state your full name and date of birth. This will happen even if you are a long-time patient and know your care team quite well. Some patients get confused by or wonder about this repetition. Please understand that we ask for this information so that we can be certain we are providing you with the treatment, medication and/or vaccines that are intended for you.
For more tips and information about how you can take a more active role in your safety as a patient, please click here.