10 TIPS TO HELP PREVENT MEDICAL ERRORS
The following 10 Tips can assist you to become more active in your health care. You can make a longer appointment or come back at a more convenient time if there is not enough time for you to ask all your questions.
Be actively involved in your own health care
Taking part in decisions that are made about your treatment is the single most important way to help prevent things from going wrong and to get the best possible care for your needs.
Speak up if you have any questions or concerns
Choose a health care professional with whom you feel comfortable talking about your health and treatment. Remember that you have a right to ask questions and to expect answers that you can understand. Your health care professional wants to answer your
questions, but can only answer them if you ask. A family member, carer or interpreter can be there with you if this will help. If you want to, you can always ask for another
professional opinion.
Learn more about your condition or treatments by asking your doctor or nurse and by using other reliable sources of information
It’s a good idea to collect as much reliable information as you can about your condition, tests and treatments.
Keep a list of all the medicines you are taking
You can use the list to let your doctor and pharmacist know about everything you are taking, and about any drug allergies you may have. Remember to include prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines and complementary medicines (such as vitamins and herbs) on your list.
Make sure you understand the medicines you are taking
When you get your medicine, read the label, including the warnings. Make sure it is what your doctor ordered for you.
Make sure you get the results of any test or procedure
If you don’t get the results when expected, don’t assume ‘no news is good news’. Call your doctor’s surgey to find out your results, and ask what they mean for your care.
Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about your options if you need to go into hospital
Most hospitals do a good job at treating a wide range of problems. Other hospitals specialise in particular areas, such as, heart bypass surgery. Become involved in decisions about your hospital treatment by discussing your options with your health care professionals.
Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery or a procedure
Ask your doctor or surgeon exactly what the procedure will involve and who will be in charge of your care when you’re in hospital. If you want, your general practitioner or other health care professional can help you find out what you need to know. Remember to tell the surgeon, anaesthetist and nurses, if you have allergies or have ever had a bad reaction to an anaesthetic or any other drug.
Make sure you, your doctor and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done during the operation
You should confirm with your doctor and your surgeon the operation to be performed as close as possible to it happening. Doing surgery on the wrong site (eg operating on the left knee rather than the right) or doing the wrong operation (eg removing the
appendix instead of the gall bladder) are both extremely rare – but even once is too often. The good news is that many professional organisations are encouraging surgeons to adopt measures to reduce the risk of wrong-site surgery.
Before you leave hospital, ask your doctor or other health care professionals to explain the treatment plan you will use at home
Doctors can sometimes think that their patients understand more than they really do
about their continuing treatment and follow-up after they are discharged home from
hospital.
Source: Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.