Voices for Safer Care

Insights from the Armstrong Institute

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Paving the Way for Peer Support Programs

"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back," goes an oft-quoted Chinese proverb. That’s the philosophy behind peer support programs, which help connect people who are dealing with health challenges to others who have “been there” and experienced similar problems. Peer support programs can offer hope, connection and practical advice for managing health conditions, […]

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Confronting missed vte doses

Seeing It Through: Confronting the Danger of Missed Blood Clot Prophylaxis

- By Elliott Haut and Brandyn Lau on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Venous Thromboembolism Collaborative You pack a healthy lunch for your child, but the carrot sticks and apple come home untouched. You donate to disaster relief, but the supplies sit unused in a shipping container. You mail a birthday gift to a friend, […]

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teenage hospital patient

What Teenage Patients — and Their Parents — Want from Their Care Team

For anyone with a serious medical condition, frequent hospitalizations and clinic visits can have a profoundly disruptive impact. Yet adolescent and teenage patients have a uniquely challenging experience. A boy who would otherwise be playing on a soccer team or performing in a play may be undergoing chemotherapy. A girl who had expected to be […]

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Physician introducing self to patient

The Patient Wish List

Since undergoing a double-lung transplant at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in December 2011, Podge Reed Jr. has had four medical admissions, two surgical admissions, eight outpatient procedures requiring anesthesia, more than 100 outpatient appointments, and 700 labs and other tests. He's amassed enough experiences with the health care system to write a book. So far, […]

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Engaging patients in decisions

Mining Patients’ Wisdom for Safer Care

Consider, for a moment, that you are a new physician. A patient, who is a lifelong smoker, comes to your clinic complaining of shortness of breath, and after conducting several tests you diagnose him with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Relying on your training, you prescribe medications, arrange for follow-up visits and describe activities that can […]

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Husband helping with care activities

Getting Patients’ Loved Ones off the Sidelines: The Family Involvement Menu

Years ago, I felt firsthand what it was like to be the helpless family member of a hospitalized patient. My mother had undergone surgery in a hospital nearly three hours away, and things had not gone well. She was unconscious when I arrived in the intensive care unit. One of the first things I noticed […]

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Changing The Conversation About Patient-Centered Care

Earlier this year, our hospital staff was weighing a new 24/7 family presence policy to allow immediate family members to stay with  patients 24 hours a day. We knew this was a step in the direction of delivering patient- and family-centered care. We presented the proposal at a meeting of our Patient and Family Advisory […]

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About the Armstrong Institute Blog

Voices for Safer Care serves as a forum for health care professionals, patients and others who are committed to ending preventable harm, improving patients’ outcomes and experiences, and reducing waste in health care. The “voices” are those of the buy modafinil clinicians, researchers and staff experts of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, as well as anyone who joins the dialogue.

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Recent Posts

  • Mission Critical
  • Armstrong Institute Hosts Inaugural Observership Program
  • 36 hours. Unlimited possibilities to transform health care.
  • Radiology’s Quality Improvement Committee: A Formula for Success
  • Paving the Way for Peer Support Programs

Categories

  • Designing Safer Systems
  • Measurement of Safety and Quality
  • Organizational and Cultural Change
  • Patient-Centered Care
  • Preventing Patient Harm