Patient Perspectives
Approximately 10% of hospital inpatients experience adverse events due to their medical treatment. Patients themselves could help to reduce rates of adverse events by actively participating in their healthcare. At most stages of the care pathway there are opportunities for patients to contribute to their healthcare safety, including, for example, accurate provision of diagnostic information, involvement in treatment decisions, choice of healthcare provider, and the management and the monitoring of adverse events.
In recent years a number of healthcare and patient safety organisations and coalitions (in the UK and elsewhere) have introduced a variety of patient-focussed initiatives aimed at facilitating patient involvement in safety by encouraging patients to ‘Speak up’ and ask healthcare staff questions if they have any concerns about their healthcare management. However, whilst such initiatives are well intentioned, there is a paucity of empirical research on their acceptability of these initiatives from the patients’ perspective and the extent to which patients would want to take on such an active role.
Our research on patient participation in patient safety aims to address this gap in the literature through a series of research projects. The overarching aims are (i) to investigate to what extent patients are able and willing to participate in patient safety and (ii) to assess the efficacy of patients’ involvement in safety in reducing medical errors/adverse events.
Project Details
- The P.I.N.K. Patient Safety Video
- Patients’ willingness to participate in safety-related behaviours
- Patient involvement in safety: the healthcare professionals’ perspective
- Using leaflets to facilitate patient involvement in safety: the patients’ perspective
- Undesirable events in healthcare: a comparison between patients’ reports and case record reviews
- Facilitating patient involvement in safety: what are the most effective strategies to encourage involvement?
- The role of social cognition models in predicting patient involvement in safety
- To measure patient satisfaction with care and quality of life in patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer
- Patient involvement and choice of medicines: harnessing professional insights