Parents the "Missing Link" in Patient Safety Efforts
Hello everybody-A fascinating new report on the role of parents in pediatric patient safety efforts is published in the July 30 issue of Journal of Hospital Medicine (paid registration required). A summary of the article is available through the University of Michigan.
Beth A. Tarini, MD, MS, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, and her co-authors Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, and Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, of the Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, looked into parents' perceptions of medical errors, patient safety, and communication. They found that nearly two-thirds of parents felt that they had to closely oversee their children's hospital care to prevent a medical error from happening.
Interestingly, parents who reported a higher level of confidence in communicating with the medical team were less likely to be worried by the potential for medical errors.
Dr. Tarini draws an important conclusion: "We need to address parents' concerns about errors and find ways to make them feel comfortable talking to us about their child's care. Parents are an underutilized resource in our efforts to prevent medical errors."
I can't echo Dr. Tarini's sentiment enough. While some parents are trained medical professionals, most are not. But parents- because of their close relationships with their children- are often able to sense important but subtle changes in their children's conditions. Parents are more than visitors. They have the potential to meaningfully contribute to their children's medical care. Time has come to harness that potential.
-Andrea
Labels: by Andrea, Communication, parents, pediatrics
posted by JosieKingFoundation @ 4:42 AM
1 Comments:
At September 20, 2009 at 12:14 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Dear Sorrel and Family,
I am a Professor of Nursing at a small university in Northern Michigan. Lake Superior State University I teach a course on technology and healthcare. This class covers many of the ways technology and the use of it via research or direct patient care has reduced medical errors. I show a PBS documentary in my class that tells Josie's story and the students get to see a real life story (yours) of what someone is doing in the area of health care to decrease this serious epidemic. I thank you for your hard work and efforts. Not only am I a Professor of Nursing but I am a nurse first and have seen the problems with health care first hand. I just wanted you to know that nurses are listening and we are teaching these students about you and other medical errors in this country's broken system.
Thank You,
Erayna Paquet RN, MSN
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Lake Superior State University
epaquet@lssu.edu
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