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AHRQ tools aim to get patients involved in their care

Quality Improvement Monitor, May 25, 2007

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed two new tools to reach out to one of the top untapped resources in medical care-the patients.

The first is an ad campaign, "Questions Are the Answer: Get More Involved With Your Health Care," which was launched during National Patient Safety Awareness Week in March. The campaign was done in conjunction with the Ad Council. The Council enlisted the help of the ad agency McCann Erickson Detroit, which did the work pro bono.

"The issue of medical errors and patient safety has been high on the healthcare agenda since the first [Institute of Medicine] report in 1999, and everybody's been working on this issue very hard," says Allan Lazar, acting director of AHRQ's Office of Communications and Knowledge. "But everybody agrees that all the oars have to be pulling in the same direction, and the one major group that is completely unaware of this issue is consumers."

The ads, which feature nurses and doctors breaking out into song and dance, aim to get patients to ask key questions about their care.

Some of the questions are easy. Others, such as asking clinicians if they've washed their hands, are a little more difficult. Those queries are nevertheless worthwhile, Lazar says.

For more information, click here.

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