Over the years, we have seen a drastic reduction in nurses. For whatever reason, the bottom line is that patient care is affected. Specifically, patient safety. Does this mean, we, as consumers, need to be concerned when we enter a healthcare facility? Yes, we certainly do.  Being an informed consumer about delivery of patient care will help ensure that mistakes are not made to your body or a loved one's.

advocates4ptcare@aol.com

advocating for delivery of quality patient care

increasing awareness in consumers, as well as healthcare professionals in order to decrease the numbers of mistakes and errors.

As consumers (or potential patients,) we need to be aware of the reality, a fact, that hospitals make mistakes. No one wants to be at the receiving end of a mistake, however, it happens, and, when it does, it is not only sad, but devastating for those involved. Be it a simple, or minor mistake or a major mistake, devastation takes place. I truly believe that no health care professional sets out intentionally to injure a patient. However, I do believe that there are those nurses (and, other health care workers) who do not have a sincere interest in the patient's well being. That is, enough to really take the time to give quality patient care. How often have I heard a patient or family member (even those who work in health care) say that they feel somewhat intimidated and don't want to ask questions, or feel uncomfortable asking questions. I have even been in that situation. Afterall, we place our entire being into the hands of someone who we have probably never met to not only treat us (doctors) but to delivery our paient care (nursing staff.) So, why shouldn't we feel comfortable in asking questions? Why do some feel they need to tiptoe around a question? The bottom line is that any time anyone does anything to our body, or that of a loved one, we can ask what is being done. The days of a nurse saying, "Ask your doctor," are long gone. I can remember the days when nurses could not tell the patient what medication they were giving them. The nurse referred the patient to their physician. I can't even think of that now. See, we, as consumers, potential patients are at the mercy of the health care professional. Now, that is scarey. There are so many reasons to be scared. The new nurse who has just graduated and is placed in a critical position in the hospital. Certainly, her knowledge is not that of a nurse who has been working in a critical area for years and years. Frightening, it should be. It is okay to ask, the nurse delvering your patient care, how long she/he has worked in the field. Why not? It is your body and you have a righ to know. As patients, or family members, we need to know the benefits of treatment, the negatives of treatments, and all related outcomes that are known. It is our body. Remember, no question is stupid or dumb when it comes to our well being. With the present shortage of nursing staff, nurses are pushed to do more work in the same amount of time. Pressure builds up, mistakes are made. When mistakes are made, an internal report, sometimes called an 'incident' report is completed, by the person making the mistake/error. This is used for the hospital and is not open to the patient to see. It is for internal purposes, i.e. risk management and also hospital insurance (malpractice, etc) Some common mistakes are: not receiving medication in a timely manner...........receiving the wrong dose of medication.............receiving the wrong medication...............not having blood tests or any tests done when ordered by the doctor............having the wrong part of your body operated on...........having surgical instruments or sponges left inside your body after surgery................ TO BE CONTINUED>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>