Rants of a Patient Safety Advocate

Being Alone With a Healthcare Provider

2012-02-03T06:37:00.000-05:00

Alone with the Doctor I got a text message from my teenage son who is away at college and he tells me he is at the nurse with his female friend and the nurse told him to leave the room. Yes, the same son who asked a doctor to wash her hands and got an “annoyed attitude”. As her advocate he expected to stay with her.I reminded him that the nurse may have wanted to ask her about her sex life, drug

Family Centered Patient Advocacy

2012-01-30T11:30:00.000-05:00

Family Centered Patient Advocacy “I have no idea who is in charge of my husband’s care. One doctor says one thing and another doctor says another.” The emotional voice of an elderly woman, obviously scared for her husband’s well being, was on the phone early one morning. She explained that her husband was hospitalized for a stroke, and she had questions that weren’t being answered. She spoke

Don't Second Guess Yourself

2012-01-05T14:12:00.000-05:00

A Mother's Love I have been a patient advocate for over 18 years. Starting when my son died 20 years ago but then I had another child 19 years ago and another very premature son 18 years ago. I became Matt’s advocate even before he was born when doctors told me I miscarried, I demanded a sonogram to show he was fine inside of me, and my skills strengthened when I gave birth to matt 4 months

Don't Tell Me Not to Worry

2012-01-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

Don't Worry Grrrr, The one thing that really gets under my skin is when a doctor (or any medical professional) says to the patient or family member (who is caring for the patient), "Don’t worry” instead of answering the question!!! The mom asked a specific question about the readings on her son who is ICU for the fourth day, where she sits and sleeps each night next to his bed. THEY keep

Bedside Manner(s)

2011-12-31T23:25:00.000-05:00

Snotty Nurse We named her “Snotty Nurse”. Not a very nice thing to call someone who works with critical care patients and sees what is probably the worst of the worst in the hospital. But, her bedside manner just wasn’t there. When the nurses change shifts or doctors did rounds she would say to anyone there quietly sitting at the patient’s bedside, “You have to leave” in a tone that was

Newsday Uncovers What We Need to Know

2011-12-22T22:06:00.000-05:00

Following the News “Doctor Busted” the headline reads in today’s Long Island Newsday on page 4. A Long Island doctor was arrested on charges that he was illegally prescribing drugs to people who didn’t need them and were not even seen as his patient. Dr. Telang has written over 40 articles and works for the National Institute for Health. He has a very impressive resume. The story also reads

HIPAA, HIPAA, HIPAA!!

2011-12-21T15:46:00.001-05:00

HIPAA What Does it All Mean?? I just received another conference notice. This time, it’s about HIPAA, it will be held in Washington DC for the small registration fee of $1,195.00. But, if you are late paying, the cost goes up to a measly $1,795.00. This 3-day conference will cover breakouts, keynote speakers and probably everything and even more than you ever wanted to know about patient

Hospital Readmissions

2011-12-18T08:15:00.000-05:00

The Cost of Re-Hospitalizations When it comes to preventing hospital readmission's, no one wants that more for the patient (or family) than PULSE, a grassroots patient safety organization. Not only because of the cost to health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid but because of the cost to the economy and risks for the patient’s safety for a number of reasons . Hospitals, as we already know are

Nice Works for Safety

2011-12-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

Being Nice in the Hospital As I walked through the hall of a hospital I needed to remind myself that it was, in fact a hospital. Each employee smiled and held the door. In this very busy hospital with crowded hallways, I had to remind myself that this was not a hotel. The volunteers were friendly and courteous. The cleaning crew smiled as they walked passed me and no matter where I was,

Informed Consent

2011-12-13T08:10:00.001-05:00

Informed Consent Is it consent, if they aren’t informed? A friend of mine who is a paramedic explained this to a colleague when treating a patient at his home while on a call. Kyle has been a paramedic for many years and also works in an emergency room as an Emergency Room Technician. His skill for treating people in an emergency go way beyond their physical needs. He is gentle and kind and

Michael Jackson's Doctor Found Guilty

2011-11-07T17:11:00.000-05:00

GUILTY! Is it ever appropriate to cheer when a person is convicted of a crime? But, that’s exactly what happened outside the courtroom of the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor as he was found guilty today of manslaughter. When the verdict was announced, there were cheers outside the courtroom. Dr. Conrad Murray, the former personal physician of Michael Jackson, was found guilty of involuntary

Politics Religion and Patient's Safety

2011-10-29T19:15:00.000-04:00

Politics Religion and Patient's Safety You may not think that religion or politics would play a role in safe, quality healthcare, but it does every day. We just don’t always see it. You may remember I wrote about the woman who couldn’t work for PULSE because we are a friend of the transgender community and do advocacy work helping to make sure their needs are met and they are treated safely and

Health Literacy (Again)

2011-10-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

More on Health Literacy Health literacy is defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions". Health literacy has become a medical term used by medical professionals to study, measure and learn communication skills

The Joint Commission Survey

2011-10-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

A Hospital Survey I hear talk from people about the way The Joint Commission works and what exactly is their role in keeping patient’s safe. As an example of what may happen at a typical hospital following a tragic event, let’s follow a complaint about a young woman who dies from an infection in a Joint Commission-accredited hospital. The family reports the incident to The Joint

Patient's With Special Needs

2011-10-01T07:03:00.000-04:00

A Special Kind of Patient Part of my work with The PULSE of NY Patient Safety Advisory Council is working with specific groups and teaching them about patient safety and learning from them, what it is about the care they receive which makes them feel unsafe or, incapable of getting safe, quality care. One of the groups I have been working closely with is people with disabilities. People who

A Nurse or an Advocate?

2011-09-06T21:48:00.000-04:00

Is a Nurse an Advocate? Working with a small group of nurses who would soon become patient’s advocates was an eye opening experience. For years nurses have called themselves the patient’s advocate, but in actuality, they are the patient’s nurse. They may offer medical care, information, comfort and advice but that’s what a nurse does. An advocate is the person who makes sure all that happens –

The Advocate's Training

2011-09-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

The Advocate's Role in Communication I just read on a website that is offering patient advocate training that the participant will learn, among other things for the fee of $795.00 to “Interpret medical jargon, diagnosis and treatment to the patient and family when appropriate”.In the advocacy training offered by PULSE of NY we dispute the role of the advocate to ‘interpret” medical information

Making a Choice

2011-08-09T12:50:00.000-04:00

Choosing a Hospital or Doctor A common question I hear is “How do I choose the best doctor”? It’s not an easy question to answer. Choosing a doctor or hospital is a very personal choice. It may be important for you to be a close distance from your doctor because travel is an issue or that you go very often to see your doctor. Some people want someone they can talk to, feel listened to and

Religion in the Way

2011-08-03T08:22:00.000-04:00

Patient Safety and Religion?? It hit me like a ton of bricks, right out of left field. I opened an e-mail early in the morning to find that a woman who has been working for us for a few weeks quit when she learned of PULSE’s work with the transgender community. Her letter read “I must say that while I support the overall mission of PULSE of NY, as I a born again Christian, I do not support

Save The Company Time and Money

2011-07-29T19:19:00.000-04:00