Initiatives

Partnering with Patients/Families

Partnering with patients and their families is an essential component of successful communicating critical test results initiatives. Teams participating in the Coalition’s Collaborative have shared some the following strategies for including patients in the process:

• Write your mission statement from the patient’s perspective
  The Safe Practice Recommendations were drafted from the patient’s perspective with the understanding that they must also work for clinicians.
  
  Frame a mission statement for communicating critical test results that starts with its impact on the patient. Examples:
  • Every patients will have all their test results communicated to the provider who can take action in a timely and reliable manner (100% of the time)
  • Assure that every critical test result is communicated to the provider who can take action
  • 100% of our patients with critical test results will have the results communicated, acknowledged, and a clinical decision (action) without our target goals within 9 months.
    
• Engage patients actively in the diagnostic testing process
  
  Engaging patients and their family in the diagnostic testing process can improve the reliability of your communication process. While recognizing that there may be situations when the patient cannot participate, every effort should be made to include patients or their family in this process. Some tips:
  • Explain every test and the rationale for that test to the patient
  • Explain the routine time frame for notification about the results of that test
  • Talk to patients about how tests interrelate in the diagnostic or treatment phase of their illness, refining the diagnosis, assessing effects of treatments by monitoring therapeutic blood levels
    
• Provide your patients tips on promoting safety
  
  Provide tips to help patients take an active role in promoting patient safety in your admissions and discharge information packages. See resource list below for examples of good reference materials.
  
  Some points from the JCAHO Speak Up Program - Laboratory
  • Make sure you get the results of all tests and procedures
  • Ask the doctor or nurse when and how you will get the results
  • Don’t assume the results are OK if you don’t get them when expected. Call the doctor and ask what the results mean.
  • Understand that more tests or medications may not always be better. Ask your doctor what a new test is likely to achieve.
  • Ask for copies of the results from all lab tests to be shared with your health car team; keep a file of all your tests and procedures

References:

“Speak Up” campaign materials from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

Speak Up: Help Prevent Errors in Your Care – general distribution
www.jcaho.org/general+public/gp+speak+up/speakup.pdf

Speak Up: Help Prevent Errors in your care – laboratory services
www.jcaho.org/general+public/gp+speak+up/speakup_lab.pdf
www.jcaho.org/general+public/gp+speak+up/laboratory+brochure.htm

Key elements of the JCAHO Speak Up program

• Speak up if you have questions or concerns, and if you don’t understand, ask again. It’s your body and you have a right to know.
• Pay attention to the care you are receiving. Make sure you’re getting the right tests and treatments from the right health care professionals. Don’t assume anything.
• Educate yourself about the medical tests you are undergoing, your diagnosis and your treatment plan
• Ask a trusted family member or friend to be your advocate
• Know your lab results
• Use a laboratory that has undergone a rigorous on-site evaluation against established, state-of-the-art quality and safety standards, such as that provided by JCAHO.
• Participate in all decisions about your treatment. You are the center of the health care team.

Also from JCAHO:

Facts about Patient Safety – Five Steps to Safe Health Care
www.jcaho.org/general+public/patient+safety/5+steps.htm

Helping you identify quality laboratory services
www.jcaho.org/general+public/making+better+choices/helping+you+choose/lab.htm

AHRQ
Quick tips - when getting medical tests
http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/quicktips/tiptests.htm
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (www.ahrq.gov)
“Quick Tips When Getting Medical Tests”
AHRQ Pub. No. -1-0040b