A safety checklist for patients

From the 15 March 2012 posting at The Health Care Blog

Far too many patients are harmed rather than helped from their interactions with the health care system. While reducing this harm has proven to be devilishly difficult, we have found that checklists help. Checklists help to reduce ambiguity about what to do, to prioritize what is most important, and to clarify the behaviors that are most helpful.
The use of checklists helped to reduce central-line associated bloodstream infections at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, in hospitals throughout Michigan, and now across the United States. Clinicians have begun to develop, implement and evaluate checklists for a variety of other diagnoses and procedures.
Patients can also use checklists to defend themselves against the major causes of preventable harm. Here are a few you can use:

The posting goes on to include short checklists for use in hospitals, clinics, and doctor offices.

To help reduce harm, clinicians must partner with patients and families.  Patients can use this checklist, as well as the information and tools listed below, to help keep them safe.
20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
Don’t Become the Victim of a Surgical Error (CNN)
Medical Errors: Tips to Help Prevent Them (American Academy of Family Physicians)
My Health Notebook (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Patient Handbook (Johns Hopkins Hospital)
Patient Safety Video (Johns Hopkins Hospital)
Patient Safety Checklists (Campaign Zero: Families for Patient Safety)
Taking Charge of Your Healthcare (Consumers Advancing Patient Safety)

Related articles

• The Patient’s Checklist by Elizabeth Bailey (asourparentsage.net)
• Survive your hospital stay with patient checklist (msnbc.msn.com)
• Patient Safety Week 2012: How Do We Make A Difference? (hcfama.org)
• Patient Safety Awareness Week (medicineandtechnology.com)