March 10-16 is Patient Safety Awareness Week

Sunday, March 10th marks the beginning of Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW), an annual event intended to raise awareness of the issues affecting patient safety in our health care system and spur conversation and innovation to deal with the problem. And it is a problem. One recent study found that medical errors may be responsible for as many as 400,00 deaths in the United States annually. That’s a lot of mistakes — many of which could have been prevented — that caused a lot of grief and pain, unnecessary expense and harm to a lot of people.

Why is there a Patient Safety Awareness Week?

As mentioned above, patient safety is a real issue that ranges across both inpatient and outpatient care. Experts agree it’s a problem that is best addressed with a coordinated response, and PSAW is intended to bring together health care professionals and patients to identify and remedy issues within a public healthcare framework.

PSAW is all about awareness, education, and action to make health care safer and more effective for all Americans in all aspects of care. The onus to address this problem lies mostly on the healthcare industry itself (problems like a dearth of record sharing and insufficient training are widespread). But this week is also intended to inform and aid patients in making good decisions, to help bolster trusting relationships between patients and their providers, and to give patients practical tools for navigating the healthcare landscape.  

This year’s theme is outpatient (ambulatory) care, an area where progress is needed badly, especially as more and more treatments are handled on an outpatient basis. As in all areas of health care, errors in outpatient care cause real harm on a large scale. One consensus report from the National Academy of Medicine suggests that as many as 1 in 20 ambulatory patients experiences diagnostic errors. This is quite alarming, especially if you or a loved one happens to be that 1 in 20, which is why this year’s PSAW is so important. 

So, what can you do to ensure better patient safety? Choose your advocate!

If you or a loved one will be experiencing end-of-life health issues in the foreseeable future, one of the most practical moves you can make is to arrange for a patient safety advocate. This can be someone you already know and trust or professionals who are trained to help patients navigate the healthcare landscape in a way that prioritizes health, family and finances. Advocate groups also provide forums and spaces for patients and loved ones to share their insights and experiences, as well as offer support when many of us need it most.

It’s important to note here that close friends and family members aren’t always the best choices as advocates. The most effective advocate is someone you trust who is not only willing to act on your behalf but who can also work well with the members of your healthcare team. 

If end-of-life care is a priority for you or someone you love, take this opportunity to start the conversation about patient safety. Talk to your friends and family, talk about it on social media, and talk to your health care providers. Waiting until there’s an acute need for this type of help most often means waiting too long, and acting now could mean the difference between months (or years) of hardship and safe, effective care for you and the important people in your life.