Patient Safety Survival Guide: Why Patients and Providers Must Protect Themselves

Patient Safety Survival Guide: Why Patients and Providers Must Protect Themselves offers an heartening perspective on the patient safety crisis by an internationally renowned psychologist and health researcher, Dr Gretchen LeFever Watson. Each year, hundreds of thousands of American hospital patients die as a result of the care they receive, and countless more are needlessly harmed. These tragic mishaps involve basic human errors rather than breakdowns in complex clinical decisions. More than half of healthcare-induced deaths stem from just three types of mistakes - infections, off-the-mark procedures, and medication errors. Simple, quick, and practically cost-free solutions exist for preventing these common medical mistakes. The solutions involve behaviors should be performed during every healthcare encounter and within eyeshot of patients. But in the hustle and bustle of delivering care, healthcare providers often overlook these essential safety behaviors - behaviors that sometimes seem too simple to matter in the context of complex and complicated clinical care delivery.Rather than simply admonishing hospitalized patients to speak up when essential safety behaviors are overlooked, Patient Safety Survival Guide provides the strategy and tools for equipping patients to remind providers to do the right thing while also preparing providers to respond appropriately when they do.
Ironically, much of the work to be done to keep patients safe within hospitals and other healthcare facilities must begin in the communities where they live. This compelling book provides a path forward for hospitals, surgical centers, nursing homes, and outpatient facilities to achieve safer expectations, and it supports a more sensible societal response when tragedy does occur. Patient Safety Survival Guide is essential reading for practicing and future healthcare professionals, patients, families, community leaders, and malpractice attorneys.