Posted by Article on 4/2/2002, 10:17 am

Campaign Urges Patients to Speak Up Thu Mar 14, 3:21 PM ET By TAMMY WEBBER, Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) - Ask your surgeon to use a marker to designate the limb to be operated on. Tell someone if you think you are being given the wrong medication. And make sure the doctors and nurses wash their hands. Those were among the suggestions Thursday from a hospital regulatory organization that is waging a public-awareness campaign urging patients to speak up if they think their doctors are making a mistake. The goal is to stem the alarming number of medical errors — from prescribing the wrong medication to operating on the wrong body part — that kill tens of thousands of people a year. "We're telling people if something looks funny, question it. It's OK to ask questions and expect answers," said Dr. Dennis O'Leary, president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The tips will be included in brochures distributed at hospitals, doctors' offices and pharmacies beginning next week as part of the "Speak Up" campaign, and nurses and doctors will be encouraged to wear buttons bearing the slogan. The commission sets standards for hospitals and accredits them. While the commission routinely issues safety alerts to doctors and hospitals, this is its first attempt to reach the broader public, O'Leary said. The campaign is in response to a 1999 Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) study that found medical errors kill up to 98,000 people a year. Although those numbers have been disputed, O'Leary said they are "way off the map of what is tolerable." As a result, he said, "we're looking at every opportunity we can possibly find to try to solve the problem." He said most doctors and nurses welcome patient involvement, and "it protects physicians from making mistakes, quite frankly." The campaign is supported by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The cost was not disclosed. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the consumer advocacy Public Citizen Health Research Group, said that patient involvement is a good idea, but such a campaign would be more credible if it were led by the government. ___ On the Net: www.jcaho.org/speakup_bro_mpfrm.html http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020314/ap_on_he_me/medical_errors_1&cid=534 ******** To Curb Medical Errors, Patients Should 'Speak Up' Thu Mar 14, 5:23 PM ET By Karen Pallarito NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients must play an active role in preventing healthcare errors by speaking up when they see something amiss, private and US government healthcare leaders said Thursday. That's the message of a national campaign launched by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The campaign consists of "Speak Up" buttons and brochures to be distributed in hospitals, nursing homes and physicians' offices. Provider participation is voluntary, but many hospitals already have responded enthusiastically, Dr. Dennis S. O'Leary, president of the Joint Commission, told reporters in a teleconference. According to a 1999 Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) report, some 98,000 people die every year due to medical errors. The report underscores the fact that medical errors are "the single most pressing healthcare issue of our time," O'Leary said. Yet despite efforts by healthcare providers to improve the quality-of-care they deliver, "no evidence of significant reductions in medical errors" exists, O'Leary said. On the contrary, the JCAHO said there is "ample evidence that errors are still killing or endangering patients." The intent of the campaign is "not to scare," he added, but rather "to encourage patients to be part of the healthcare team." If you don't understand something, if the pill looks different from the one you've been getting, if the doctor hasn't washed his hands, "speak up," he said. Many patients are reluctant to speak up and providers need to convey the message that it is okay to do that, O'Leary said. He added that the campaign's success depends upon having hospitals, physicians and nurses embrace the concept. The campaign's message is consistent with the government's own efforts to improve healthcare quality, Tom Scully, administrator of the CMS, said in the teleconference. "This (campaign) is a partnership...to try to make everyone's quality better." The Medicare program also intends to weave the message into its own educational materials for beneficiaries. Still, some patients are not able to speak up for themselves, especially if they are seriously ill, medicated or suffering from dementia, campaign sponsors conceded. In those instances, family or friends need to step up and serve as patient advocates, O'Leary explained. The JCAHO did not disclose the amount of its investment in the campaign, although O'Leary acknowledged to Reuters Health that it is "relatively inexpensive" to print brochures and buttons. Asked whether the sponsors might consider broadening the reach of the campaign via television and radio spots, he said "more expensive options" might be weighed in the long run if the campaign's message doesn't seem to be getting through. For now, though, he's banking on doctors, nursing homes and hospitals to bring the message home. "My view would be that there's nothing like having these brochures and buttons in the care delivery site where you are a patient." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020314/hl_nm/medicine_errors_1016144619&cid=594