By Evan Falchuk
Patient safety is another way to look at health care quality.
Some hospitals are doing meaningful things to improve both patient safety and the quality of care. Over at the Better Health blog, Dr. Val Jones has put together a terrific three-part video series with Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The Harvard-affiliated BI Deaconess is one of the leading hospitals in the country. And Paul Levy is one of the leading-edge innovators in the use of social media through his blog and active twitter use. Dr. Val has managed to capture that unique combination in the work done by the BI Deaconess in her videos.
There are three videos. One is about how BI keeps patients aware of their safety record, and another talks about how patients can keep in touch with friends and family while they are in the hospital.
The one I liked the best is about how patients can have a better hospital experience by keeping themselves informed. You can watch that below.
The work hospitals are doing to improve question of patient safety is something we should hear more about. Kudos to Val for helping people see this in action.
[...] One quibble I would have with Levy is this. He’s right, the BI Deaconess is at a disadvantage compared to Partners in terms of its negotiating leverage with Blue Cross, but the BI Deaconess is still one of the best hospitals with some of the best doctors in the world. Perhaps it’s more of a statement of the high quality of academic medicine in Massachusetts that a hospital like his can be considered second to anyone. I’ve posted previously on some of Levy’s good work on health care quality here. [...]