In honor of World Patient Safety Day we at Vaad Refuah would like to share the follow tips
• -Don’t go alone/don’t leave patient alone
• -Be prepared
o -write down questions for the doctor or nurses
o -bring relevant documentation
o -carve out specific times for questions and info aside from when the doctor is assessing the patient
• -Take notes during all visits, consider making a treatment binder
• -Call patient’s pcp and ask attending physician to contact patient’s pcp
• -Make sure you understand what is being explained to you
o -have doctor explain test results, treatment plans, discharge instructions
o -don’t be afraid to ask questions
o -don’t accept advice until you understand
How Vaad Refuah can help
• -Patient advocacy offers efficacy in a sometimes scary situation
• -Having liaison between doctors, nurses, family members, patients in a professional manner
• -In a stressful environment where emotions can run high having an outside, trained person can insure the info is digestible
• -can help family make decisions calmly with all info on the table
• -can help be the liaison between pcps specialists, etc
You can learn more about A Safer Hospital Stay and our other programs here