Communication

Communication failures are a leading contributing factor in medmal cases. Our patient safety resources, informed by experts from across the Harvard medical community, help reduce your risk of being sued through case studies, clinical guidelines, podcasts, and more...

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Can Your Patient Understand Your Instructions?

Approximately half of Americans have reading and computational skill deficiencies that could impede their participation and compliance in health care. This problem raises serious concerns about how well patients with low or marginal literacy are navigating the current health care system.

Failed Physician-Nurse Communication

The patient’s daughter sued three anesthesiologists, the attending surgeon, the ophthalmology fellow, the nurse anesthetist, and the nurse caring for her the evening after her eye surgery, alleging negligence for performing a non-emergent surgical procedure in the presence of an acute respiratory infection and failing to note the patient’s sleep apnea, resulting in her death.

Informed Consent Basics

Through dialogue and discussion with you, your patients become more knowledgeable partners in medical decision-making and develop realistic expectations about the outcomes of medical intervention. Ideally, informed consent discussions build trust and reduce surprise and disappointment if complications or adverse events occur.

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Five Things To Know About Communication Errors, Patient Safety in General Medicine

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Five Things To Know About Communication Errors, Patient Safety in General Medicine

February 8, 2016

The CRICO Strategies 2015 Comparative Benchmarking Report on specific weaknesses in communication that may impact patient safety is highlighted in this Becker's article.
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Failure to Supervise and Confirm Orders Leads to Preventable Death A 77 year old male with difficulty swallowing was admitted to the hospital after a fall. The documented NPO was not entered into the system, which and ultimately led to the patient being fed and causing aspiration.

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Failure to Supervise and Confirm Orders Leads to Preventable Death

September 17, 2015

A 77 year old male with difficulty swallowing was admitted to the hospital after a fall. The documented NPO was not entered into the system, which ultimately led to the patient being fed and causing aspiration. This escalated and the patient died from related complications.
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Malpractice Risks of Health Care Communication Failures Unreliable communication exposes patients to harm

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Malpractice Risks of Health Care Communication Failures

February 2, 2016

A third of medmal cases can be directly linked to communication breakdowns.
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Communication

Can Your Patient Understand Your Instructions?

Failed Physician-Nurse Communication

Informed Consent Basics

Featured

Five Things To Know About Communication Errors, Patient Safety in General Medicine

Failure to Supervise and Confirm Orders Leads to Preventable Death

Malpractice Risks of Health Care Communication Failures