Originally posted 6-29-2011:
The June issue of Men's Health had a nice article around ways to protect yourself, as a patient, from potential medical errors. The article provides some easy to follow checklists and questions a patient should be asking themselves to help ensure their safety in the hospital. Common patient scenarios like having surgery, requiring an IV, and having a baby are covered with tips for a patient or patient advocate. This is the type of patient education needed to make sure patient's are included in the feedback loop to ensure their own positive outcomes.
What really got my attention as I read the article is where the author went to research his piece. He traveled to the Banner Simulation Medical Center in Arizona to "play doctor" for a couple days to help identify potential opportunities for error in the healthcare setting. As someone who has struggled through medical simulation, I thought it was great idea to support the tips provided in the article.
I applaud Banner for supporting such a large facility for Medical Simulation. The virtual hospital can train up to 1875 nurses in a safe environment to practice for real patients, and is one of the largest of it's type in the world. I feel this is a growing trend that will change the way caregivers are trained in medicine. The best way to sum up the importance of simulation is stated in the Men's Health article: "If they make a mistake, we just reboot the patient." But instead of listing off the benefits again, I would recommend watching this video to hear it directly from the people that are undergoing training there.
If only "rebooting" the patient was just that easy...
The June issue of Men's Health had a nice article around ways to protect yourself, as a patient, from potential medical errors. The article provides some easy to follow checklists and questions a patient should be asking themselves to help ensure their safety in the hospital. Common patient scenarios like having surgery, requiring an IV, and having a baby are covered with tips for a patient or patient advocate. This is the type of patient education needed to make sure patient's are included in the feedback loop to ensure their own positive outcomes.
What really got my attention as I read the article is where the author went to research his piece. He traveled to the Banner Simulation Medical Center in Arizona to "play doctor" for a couple days to help identify potential opportunities for error in the healthcare setting. As someone who has struggled through medical simulation, I thought it was great idea to support the tips provided in the article.
I applaud Banner for supporting such a large facility for Medical Simulation. The virtual hospital can train up to 1875 nurses in a safe environment to practice for real patients, and is one of the largest of it's type in the world. I feel this is a growing trend that will change the way caregivers are trained in medicine. The best way to sum up the importance of simulation is stated in the Men's Health article: "If they make a mistake, we just reboot the patient." But instead of listing off the benefits again, I would recommend watching this video to hear it directly from the people that are undergoing training there.
If only "rebooting" the patient was just that easy...