The Empowered Patient Coalition provides resources enabling patients to take control of their medical treatments.

Hospitals may be even more dangerous than previously suspected. One out of every three people admitted suffers a medication mix-up, a fall, a bed sore, or another problem related to the way care is delivered, according to research published in April in the health policy journal Health Affairs. In this chat, we ask two leading advocates what people can do to avoid problems and stay safe in the hospital.

Read the archived transcript of the chat here. Tribune reporter Judy Graham, and panelists Dr. Julia Hallisy and Lisa McGiffert chat about hospital safety issues.

The Empowered Patient Coalition is partnering with Transparent Learning to promote “The Faces of Medical Error…From Tears to Transparency” video series.  “The Story of Lewis Blackman,” the first in the series and an award-winning film produced by Transparent Health®, chronicles the experience of a vibrant, healthy 15-year-old boy who entered the hospital for what was believed to be a low-risk medical procedure. Through the thought-provoking insights of leading voices in patient safety education -- including Lucian Leape, MD; Tim McDonald, MD, JD; Bob Galbraith ,MD; David Mayer, MD; Rosemary Gibson, and Lewis’s mom, Empowered Patient Coalition co-founder Helen Haskell -- viewers are taken through all aspects of Lewis’ care. This is a full learning program complete with educational materials.

Read John Novack's interview with Helen Haskell on the Quantros Clinical Cafe website. Helen discusses important patient safety issues including patient-activated rapid response teams, her new videos with Transparent Health and The Empowered Patient Coalition's reporting survey.

Read the interview

The following films from Transparent Learning are the first in a series of educational stories that feature patient safety advocates including Helen Haskell, Rosemary Gibson and Dr. Lucian Leape. Helen Haskell tells “The Story of Lewis Blackman” to share what she has learned in the years since her son’s preventable death with both patients and healthcare providers.

The videos address many critical health care issues including:

1) Prevention of medical errors
2) Disclosure
3) Levels of providers
4) Night and weekend care
5) How providers and institutions respond when our care has caused harm
6) The important role patients and families can take in their care

Please watch a video about Diana Brookins, capturing a true story through a play about a mother's crusade, Kim Sandstrom as she moves forward and fights back about the untimely death of her daughter after surgery. The play, titled Damselfly, premiered at “The Next Decade: National Patient Safety Progress Expo” in Ocala, Florida and was supported by the Empowered Patient Coalition, Mother’s Against Medical Error, Rasmussen College, Munroe Regional Medical Center and the Ocala/Marion County Visitor’s Bureau.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20100312/VIDEO/3122000

 Last Thanksgiving weekend, many of us bloggers participated in the first documented “blog rally” to promote Engage With Grace – a movement aimed at having all of us understand and communicate our end-of-life wishes. It was a great success, with over 100 bloggers in the healthcare space and beyond participating and spreading the word. Plus, it was timed to coincide with a weekend when most of us are with the very people with whom we should be having these tough conversations – our closest friends and family. Our original mission – to get more and more people talking about their end of life wishes – hasn’t changed. But it’s been quite a year – so we thought this holiday, we’d try something different.

A bit of levity.