Neurologists for patient safety: where we stand, time to deliver.
Neurologists have a professional opportunity, an ethical responsibility, and sound clinical and economic reasons for engaging in efforts to improve patient safety. Better communication with patients and other providers, closer follow-up of consultation cases, and more focused supervision of trainees will help to reduce current patterns of error and misunderstanding. Patient education with attention to health literacy should improve adherence to management plans and help to bridge transitions of care across providers and sites. Through teaching and by example, neurologists can profoundly influence successive generations of clinicians to adopt safer practices, a culture of openness, and enhanced professionalism. The federal Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, once implemented, should increase the evidence basis for safer care through voluntary, legally protected reporting of errors and adverse events within the framework of patient safety organizations.
Glick
Thomas H
TH
Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA. thomas_glick@hms.harvard.edu
Rizzo
Matthew
M
Stern
Barney J
BJ
Feinberg
Daniel M
DM
D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009462:Neurology / Q000592:standards*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States