The quality tool of this week, in which I am interesting in, is “Health literacy and patient safety.” Medical literacy in patients is very common in today’s world. Patients tend to misunderstand or misinterpret the information, which is given by clinician, and it causes medical errors, or malpractice lawsuits. The reasons of the literacy in patient, can be limited medical vocabulary or terminology, and misunderstanding medications instructions. Clinician can improve the quality of their care, by using simple words, clarifying the instructions of a test or result, helping patients by being polite, and answer their questions. The article I selected is “Identifying Improvement opportunity.” Identifying improvement opportunity is the most critical step in quality management. First, recognize the reason of changes and recognize why the changes are needed. Changes can be idea, suggestion, complaints, or the problem itself. Then recognize the effects and outcomes of the changes. Also make sure that the changes are aligned with organization goal. The change should be focused on the outcome, by not affecting organization’s goals in harmful way.
Source of Article: http://www.tricare.mil/her/prequst1.html
