National Patient Safety Awareness Week Set for March 5 - 11

Nemours Enterprise
Thursday, March 02, 2006 @ 12:00 AM EST

Our Patients – Our Partner: One Team, One Goal

Nemours joins over 300 hospitals and healthcare organizations across the United States that will celebrate National Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 5-11, with special activities for patients and healthcare providers. The theme is "Our Patients – Our Partner: One Team, One Goal."

National Patient Safety Awareness Week is coordinated by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving patient safety and reducing medical errors. National Patient Safety Awareness Week gives hospitals and healthcare systems an opportunity to educate patients to participate more effectively in the delivery of medical care and to highlight their efforts to reduce medical errors and improve safety.

“Patient safety is a dynamic part of the culture at Nemours, and Patient Safety Awareness Week provides a forum for us to increase awareness and provide education on patient safety to our patients and families,” said Linda Pilla, JD, MBA, Director, Corporate Risk Management for Nemours. “Nemours also chooses this week to celebrate the collective efforts of our associates with respect to patient safety initiatives, and to highlight the progress we have made throughout the year in our patient safety program.”

Patients and their families will receive patient safety tips, coloring books and brochures to provide awareness and education about patient safety. Nemours associates will also be involved in activities throughout Patient Safety Awareness Week to heighten awareness of patient safety.

How Patients and Families Can Get Involved:

Learn how to become more involved in care

• Learn how you can become an active member of your healthcare team.
• Learn how you can report an error within your own healthcare system.

Actions to take to help protect yourself

• Clean out your medicine cabinets of old or expired medications.
• Bring your medications to your doctor or pharmacist for review.
• Get copies of all of your healthcare records and keep them in a safe place.
• Write down and carry with you all of your prescription and over the counter medications (including doses), as well as any allergies.
• Write down and carry with you the names and numbers of all of your healthcare providers and pharmacies.
• Identify an advocate (either family member or friend) who can accompany you and ask questions on your behalf.
• Talk with your family or other close individuals about what your preferences are for your healthcare, in case you are unable to speak for yourself.

Communicate and partner with your providers

• Ask your hospital or healthcare professional about patient safety, and how communication and partnership between you and your providers can be improved.
• Ask your hospital or healthcare organization what they are doing for Patient Safety Awareness Week, and attend events to learn more about patient safety.
• Communicate with your provider about what your healthcare safety concerns are, and how you believe they may be able to help.
• Let your healthcare provider know who they should talk with in the case that you are unable to speak for yourself.

Reach out to the community

• Organize local events through your hospital, community group, church or other activities to share information and stories about patient safety and medical error.

modified: Friday, January 04, 2008 @ 03:19 PM EST
created: Friday, January 04, 2008 @ 03:19 PM EST

About Nemours

Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.

Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.

Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.