Patient safety: Patients' role in improving patient safety (Presentation: Paris 2012)

Summary

Presentation from the BMJ/IHI 2012 conference in Paris.

Content

Key learning points

Richard Thomson: Evidence based patient involvement in improving patient safety

• Understanding the key drivers and barriers for involving patients in improving patient safety.
• Identifying the key elements of an implementation plan for patient involvement.

Erica van der Schriek-de Loos: Patients as consultants in care processes: improving safety or not?

• Optimising patient safety is only possible when patients are engaged as consultants of their own healthcare processes. Implementation of initiatives needs to be based on the relationship between patients and healthcare professionals to create an active dialogue about safety. To create a long term effect of the patients’ role it’s essential that incorporation of the patients’ perspective is developed at 4 levels: individual care processes, national healthcare organisations, national healthcare system, and laws and regulations.

Rick Iedema: What are patients’ expectations when things go wrong in clinical care?

• This session outlined what patients expect to happen when things go wrong in their clinical care. Findings were derived from 100 interviews with patients and family members involved in high-severity incidents, and are illustrated with videoed interview clips.