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JCAHO encourages patients to "Speak Up"

Accreditation Connection, January 28, 2005

The JCAHO announced on January 27 a campaign called "Speak Up" and mailed materials to the country's Fortune 1000 companies, copies of a brochure and a poster called, "Things You Can Do to Prevent Medication Mistakes."

"Employers have a critically important role in developing informed healthcare consumers among their employed workforce," says Charles A. Mowll, FACHE, JCAHO executive vice president, in a press release.

"The Joint Commission is providing this 'Speak Up' advisory to employers as an additional tool they can use to inform their employees about the steps they can take to prevent medication mistakes," Mowll adds.

Although studies have largely focused on medication errors in hospitals, such as those by the Institute of Medicine, the JCAHO says the billions of medications prescribed annually at clinics and doctors' offices, filled at pharmacies and taken at home also are prone to error. Some mistakes are more serious than others, JCAHO says, but all medication mistakes can be prevented.

"America's workers are our most valuable asset," Gerry Shea, assistant to the president for Government Affairs, AFL-CIO, says in the JCAHO press release. "The Speak Up initiative helps the public play an important role in keeping themselves and their loved ones safe by taking some very easy steps at the doctor's office, pharmacy, hospital and clinic."

The JCAHO is asking employers to share the brochure with employees (which includes tips and steps for them to avoid medication errors), to pin up the poster, and also to encourage employees to fill in a wallet card labeled "My Medication List." The card is meant to be shared with pharmacists, doctors, and other caregivers during routine or emergency treatments.

To see a copy of the press release or download the materials sent to the Fortune 1000 companies, visit www.jcaho.org.

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