New SAFE CARE Program to Provide Patient Education at Bedside

Encouraging patients and their families to take an active role in their health care by becoming involved and informed is critical. In celebration of Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, a unique patient safety education program will be released to provide patients and their families with instant access to current patient safety videos at their bedside and while receiving care. The 2012 SAFE CARE Patient Safety Education Program, is a free offering developed to assist health care organizations in educating patients to help prevent medical errors. The campaign features videos from The Joint Commission’s Speak Up™ campaign, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),Kimberly-Clark, the Patient Channel® from The Wellness Network, and Safe Care Campaign. The goal of the SAFE CARE Patient Safety Education Program is to save lives, prevent harm and help patients receive safer care.

The SAFE CARE Program utilizes free posters that hospitals can hang in patient rooms which allows patients and families to instantly access and watch safety videos by topic on their own smart phones by simply pointing a smart phone at a QR code on the poster, or texting the word “SAFE” to 411247 to receive a link to Safe Care’s safety video library.  The nine short videos address the most common patient safety issues in hospitals such as hand hygiene, preventing infections, avoiding medication errors, patient falls, and more. Organizations are also able to customize the videos for a nominal fee.

“We are making important safety information available to patients and their families 24/7 with no training or time obligation whatsoever from the hospital care staff,” says Victoria Nahum, executive director, SAFE CARE Campaign. “These videos show how to receive the safest care possible and we put it right into the hands of the patients and their families’ right when they need it most – while they’re at the bedside.”

“We know that the more patients are involved in their care the less likely there will be a bad outcome such as a medication mix-up or a health care-associated infection,” says Cathy Barry-Ipema, chief communications officer, The Joint Commission. “This campaign gives patients the information they need to speak up and be active participants in their health care.”