The
Seminole County "Patient Safety Initiative"
The
Patient Safety Summit:
By all accounts, the April 22nd Patient Safety Summit was an overwhelming
success. The speakers and topics were highly rated by Summit attendees.
Anne Peach, Chief Operating Officer, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Orlando, and Vice President of Nursing, Orlando Regional Healthcare
wrote:
“this
session far exceeded expectations. The speakers were passionate
and knowledgeable about patient safety, and their topics were necessary
and timely. I know our leadership at Orlando Regional Healthcare
(physicians, nurses and hospital administrators) see many opportunities
to continue to improve the safety in our facilities……There
is no doubt in my mind that…lives will be saved as a result
of this conference, and that new ideas will be generated and implemented
by physicians and hospitals alike.”
The Seminole
County “Patient Safety Initiative”:
But the Summit
was just the beginning of an ongoing Seminole County “Patient
Safety Initiative”, a cooperative effort of the Medical Society
and all three Seminole County hospitals to promote patient safety
on a county-wide basis. With this Initiative Seminole County will
become the first county in the nation to address patient safety
issues county-wide. The initial components of the Initiative include:
I. Patient
Safety Research
The Medical
Society and all three hospitals are planning to be involved in studies
conducted by Dr. Eduardo Salas from the University of Central Florida
to see if better teamwork can improve patient safety, such as through
a comparison of teamwork approaches in different patient care settings
(both hospital and outpatient).
II.
"Advanced Patient Safety Certification"
Physicians who
attended the entire Summit earned "Advanced Patient Safety
Certification”. They received special recognition from the
Initiative, including publishing their names in the Seminole County
section of the Sunday, May 21, 2006 edition of the Orlando Sentinel.
III. The Seminole County “Patient Safety Council"
A Seminole County
“Patient Safety Council" has been created to ensure that
Summit goals and a Seminole County “culture of patient safety”
are achieved. The Council is made up of representatives of the Medical
Society and all three Seminole County hospitals, as well as other
invited parties. The Council will meet three times a year, with
the first meeting scheduled for August 16, 2006, from 12 noon to
1:30 PM, at South Seminole Hospital in Longwood. The Council’s
objectives are:
• to discuss current and proposed patient safety initiatives;
• to provide a forum for physician and hospital dialog on
related issues; and
• to plot the future direction of patient safety in Seminole
County.
IV.
The "Patient Safety in Seminole County” magazine
The Initiative
published over 2,000 “Patient Safety in Seminole County”
magazines in association with the Summit, and delivered them to
Central Florida physicians. The magazine included articles from
the Summit speakers, and is an important piece in distributing information
about the Initiative to the medical community. The magazine will
soon be on the SCMS website in pdf format.
VI.
A county-wide "Ask Me 3" project
The "Ask
Me 3" program addresses the issue of healthcare literacy. Research
has shown that 20 to 50% of patients have little knowledge of their
medical instructions at the time they leave a physician's office.
The "Ask Me 3" program is designed to bring public and
physician attention to this issue, and to improve healthcare literacy
by letting patients know they should ask three questions every time
they talk to a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist:
• What
is my main problem?
• What do I need to do?
• Why is it important for me to do this?
The Initiative
has begun a county-wide effort to educate patients and physicians
about the "Ask Me 3" program. The Medial Society is coordinating
volunteers to take "Ask Me 3" posters to physician offices
for display, and each of the hospitals is putting up “Ask
Me 3” posters. An advertisement informing physicians and patients
about the program will be published in the Seminole County section
of the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday, June 7, 2006. Public service
announcements about the program will also be broadcast on radio.
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