Preventing Medical Mistakes

A report from the Institute of Medicine estimates that up to 98,000 Americans die every year from medical mistakes in hospitals alone. That’s about 3,230 preventable deaths in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program a year. While death is the most tragic outcome, medical mistakes cause other problems such as permanent disabilities, extended hospital stays, longer recovery periods, and even additional treatments.

Ask Questions

By asking questions, learning more and understanding your risks, you can improve the safety of your own health care and that of your family members. Here are some simple steps for you to take:

Ask questions if you have doubts or concerns.

• Ask questions and make sure you understand the answers.

• Choose a doctor with whom you feel comfortable talking.

• Take a relative or friend with you to help you ask questions and understand answers.

Keep and bring a list of all the medications you take.

• Bring the actual medicines or give your doctor and pharmacist a list of all the medicines that you take, including non-prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

• Tell them about any drug allergies you have.

• Ask about any risks or side effects of the medication and what to avoid while taking it. Be sure to write down what your doctor or pharmacist says.

• Make sure your medicine is what the doctor ordered. Ask the pharmacist about your medicine if it looks different than you expected.

• Read the label and patient package insert when you get your medicine, including all warnings and instructions. Under the Service Benefit Plan, we have a Patient Safety and Quality Monitoring (PSQM) Program for prescription drugs. This program is designed to promote the safe and appropriate use of medications. It uses safety checks for usage precautions, drug interactions, drug duplication, excessive use, and frequency of refills before your prescription is filled.

• Know how to use your medicine. Especially note the times and conditions when your medicine should and should not be taken.

• Contact your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions. Both our Retail Pharmacy Program and our Mail Service Pharmacy Program have pharmacists available to talk to you about your medications. You can call the numbers on the back of your ID card for assistance.

Get the results of any test or procedure.

• Ask when and how you will get the results of tests and procedures.

• Do not assume the results are fine if you do not get them when expected, be it in person, by phone, or by mail.

• Call your doctor and ask for your results.

• Ask what the results mean for your care.

Talk to your doctor about which hospital is best for your health needs.

• Ask your doctor about which hospital has the best care and results for your condition if you have more than one hospital to choose from to get the health care you need. You can also go to our online Provider Directory and access Review Hospital Profiles for quality information about hospitals in your area.

• Be sure to understand the instructions you get about follow-up care when you leave the hospital.

Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery.

• Make sure you, your doctor, and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done during the operation.

• Ask your doctor, “Who will manage my care when I am in the hospital?”

Ask your surgeon:

• Exactly what will you be doing?

• About how long it will take?

• What will happen after surgery?

• How can I expect to feel during recovery?

• Tell the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses about any allergies, bad reactions to anesthesia, and any medications you are taking.

More Information

Patient safety for you and your family is important to us. You can also get more information by visiting the following web sites:

• www.ahrq.gov: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has a wide-range of topics not only about patient safety but information on how to choose quality health care providers and improve the quality of the care you receive.

• www.npsf.org: The National Patient Safety Foundation has information on how to ensure safer health care for you and your family.

• www.talkaboutrx.org: The National Council on Patient Information and Education is dedicated to improving communications about the safe and appropriate use of medicines.

• www.leapfroggroup.org: The Leapfrog Group actively promotes safe practices in hospital care.

• www.ahqa.org: The American Health Quality Association represents organizations and health care professionals working to improve patient safety.

• www.quic.gov/report: This site provides information about what federal agencies are doing to identify threats to patient safety and help prevent mistakes in the nation’s health care delivery system.

As a Service Benefit Plan member, you also have an additional resource for all of your medical questions about treatment plans, tests and procedures. You can call Blue Health Connection or access Blue Health Connection on this web site. Blue Health Connection has a staff of registered nurses to help you with questions about your long-term or short term medical concerns. You can also access the AudioHealth Library to get more information about your health issues.

Written by Paula Spurway, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Originally published in March 2008. Resource: 2008 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan brochure Section 5(h) Special Features, Section 5(f) Prescription Drug Benefits, and Page 4 Preventing Medical Mistakes.