Writing about patient engagement for a broad audience, I carefully consider how to refer to people involved in this work who are not health care professionals. Patients, family members, informal caregivers, consumers, citizens, activists and more play important roles in healthcare, and it can be challenging to hit the right note when referring to them […]
Communication and resolution programs can help organizations meet the informational and emotional needs of patients and families, as well as clinicians and staff members, after an adverse or unexpected event in medical care. Advocates of the CARe — or Communication, Apology and Resolution — model held an annual forum earlier this month to highlight the […]
Editor’s Note: In late 2020, the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety asked four healthcare leaders how the pandemic had affected their organization’s approach to an overarching issue in patient safety. Patricia McGaffigan, vice president of safety programs at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, Massachusetts, was asked to reflect on how the pandemic had […]
Editor’s Note: OpenNotes has grown from a pilot program involving 20,000 patients in 2010 to an evidence-based approach that offered direct access to clinical visit notes to more than 40 million patients in the United States and Canada in 2019. The program, which is headquartered at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, describes itself […]
Editor’s note: In September, the Massachusetts Sepsis Consortium launched a campaign to inform the public about the signs and symptoms of sepsis—a condition that takes a life in the United States every two minutes. It’s the leading cause of death in hospitals but is largely unknown in the general public. Sepsis occurs when the body launches a rapid and overwhelming […]
Editor’s note: In September, the Massachusetts Sepsis Consortium launched a campaign to inform the public about the signs and symptoms of sepsis—a condition that takes a life in the United States every two minutes. It’s the leading cause of death in hospitals but is largely unknown in the general public. Sepsis occurs when the body launches a rapid and overwhelming […]
Editor’s note: In September, the Massachusetts Sepsis Consortium launched a campaign to inform the public about the signs and symptoms of sepsis—a condition that takes a life in the United States every two minutes. It’s the leading cause of death in hospitals but is largely unknown in the general public. Sepsis occurs when the body […]