Patient Safety Application

I think that I was expecting to learn more about patient safety stands and the uses of health care services.  I also wanted to learn more about the ways to reduce variation in providing health care in a safe manner, with patient safety at the helm.  I feel that I have learned quite a bit about the role that patients play in health care and continue to feel that their role gets dismissed a bit by some and it needs to be reinforced instead of crushing it.  I learned that transparency helps to reduce lawsuits instead of creating them as many still believe. 

The discussion was a really good one about the ways that we can help to protect our patients.  It brought about a real life situation and looked at ways that we would handle it.  When it comes to our patient’s safety, there should be any egos or barriers put up by us.  We should be transparent and acknowledge when we have made a mistake.  Like the Case Study that we looked at, we need to realize that not all of our patients are looking to sue or get something more than the truth from us.  We need to be careful of our licenses, but not assume that there is always someone at every turn that wants to try to take it from us.  At the core, people are mostly just scared and just want to be properly cared for. 

Reading over the information from this unit, I really took a look in the mirror to see how I am doing things in my own practice and to evaluate the care that I am providing.  I will make a conscious effort to always put my patients first and to make sure that they know that I am willing to go to bat for them and to always keep them informed.  I love learning more about safety and quality and want to strive to always provide the highest quality care to all of my patients.