MAY
2001












AFL-CIO Website can help you become an informed patient
How to Avoid Medical Errors

As many as 44,000 to 98,000 patients die each year as the result of medical errors in hospitals each year, according to a study last year by the Institute of Medicine.
That means more people die from medical errors than from car accidents, breast cancer or AIDS.

Medical errors include:

  • Giving a patient an antibiotic to which he or she is allergic.

  • Giving a high-salt meal to a patient on a low-salt diet.

  • Giving a patient the wrong type of blood.

  • Equipment failure.

  • Infections and post-surgical wound infections.

Doctors sometimes recommend more dangerous and intrusive procedures when simpler, less risky tests are more effective.

Doctors sometimes send patients to underutilized hospitals for heart surgery when evidence shows that hospitals which perform more procedures per year have better survival records.

The UAW is involved in many efforts to clean up our health care system. We are working in many cities on Community Health Care Initiatives to encourage the use of best practices.

Through the Economic Alliance for Michigan, we work to encourage the use of hospitals in Michigan that maintain high volumes of heart surgery.

We have also been pushing for a strong, effective patient bill of rights with the right to sue. In short, the UAW knows that the best answers are systematic reforms. But it is also important to become a well-informed patient.

The AFL-CIO’s Working Families Health Care Center, which can be found at
www.aflcio.org, provides a comprehensive portal to a world of health care information that can protect you and your family.

There are links to the Mayo Clinic with news stories and solid advice on diseases from A to Z.

Can you reduce your risk of colorectal cancer or even prevent it? Yes, regular testing to detect and remove polyps can prevent colorectal cancer says the Mayo Clinic.

Need to find a doctor?

The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide might help. And it’s linked to the AFL-CIO Website, too.

Because so many problems with the health care system that Americans face need to be brought to the attention of Congress, the AFL-CIO site also encourages union members to share their stories.

More and more UAW members have computers and Internet service. But if you don’t, you should check to see if your public library provides patrons with access to the Internet.

 

20 tips to prevent medical error

  1. Be an active part of your health care team.
  2. Let your doctors know about everything you take.
  3. Reveal allergies and adverse reactions to drugs.
  4. Make sure you can read your doctor’s prescription
  5. Understand how and when you should take medicines.
  6. When you pick up your medicine, ask your pharmacist: Is this the medicine my doctor prescribed?
  7. Make sure you understand the directions on the label.
  8. Ask your pharmacist for the best device to measure your medicine. Many household teaspoons are not accurate.
  9. Ask for written information about side effects.
  10. Pick hospitals experienced with your condition.
  11. Ask health care workers who have direct contact with you if they have washed their hands recently.
  12. Ask your doctor to explain your discharge plan.
  13. Make sure you, your doctor, and your surgeon agree on what will be done.
  14. Speak up if you have concerns.
  15. Make sure someone, such as your doctor, is in charge.
  16. Make sure all health professionals involved in your care have important health information about you.
  17. Ask a family member to be your advocate.
  18. Know that more is not better. You could be better off without a test or treatment.
  19. Ask about test results.
  20. Learn about your condition and treatment by asking your doctor and nurse and using other reliable sources.

 


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