Health Care Consumers' Inclination to Engage in Selected Patient Safety Practices

Patients’ attitudes towards patient involvement in safety interventions: results of two exploratory studies

“…asking staff about their hand washing compliance) than to participate in those that are normalized in current medical practice and considered useful safety precautions to all (e.g. bringing medicines into hospital) 31–35 . Taken together, this could mean that interventions such as video and leaflet may be most effective at encouraging involvement in those behaviours that patients find it particularly difficult to participate in.…”

“…29 We know from extant data that patientsÕ preferences for involvement in different safetyrelated behaviours can vary. [31][32][33][34][35] Patients appear to be least willing to participate in behaviours perceived as challenging the clinical abilities of health-care staff and ⁄ or those that are newer or unfamiliar to adopt. [31][32][33][34][35] However, the effect of safety educational materials in changing these attitudes and improving patientsÕ comfort in participation remains largely ignored.…”

Ask, speak up, and be proactive: Empowering patient infection control to prevent health care–acquired infections

“…These factors can be broadly divided into 2 groups: endogenous (feeling able to prevent an error or to provide input, perceived effectiveness of taking preventative action) and exogenous, including socioeconomic factors (eg, age, sex, education) and other external factors (eg, available information, personal experiences, social norms). 23,25 Factors found to be associated with a willingness to ask HCWs to HH include younger age, 19,21 being a woman, 15,17,22 race (minority groups), 22 extraversion or expansive personality, 19,21 level of education, 15,17,22 being employed, 15 being nonreligious, 19 overestimating the incidence rate of HCAI, 17 believing that patients can control their own behavior, 26 believing that participation would help to prevent HCAIs, 19 and a belief that HCWs can infect patients. 17 Readiness to participate in either error prevention or around challenging staff on their HH practices was also associated with patient experiences: previous hospital stays, higher familiarity with relevant information, 23 previous HCAI experiences, 26 and being concerned about HCAIs.…”

"Not Just a Receiver"

“…Most respondents also said they were willing to seek a second opinion when making an important health decision. However, a minority of patients said they would confirm clinicians’ identity before they performed a procedure, ask clinicians if they had washed their hands, bring a medication list to appointments, or refuse a procedure that they had not discussed with their clinicians in advance [28]. Hibbard et al conducted a survey on a convenience sample to understand consumer attitudes about their role in patient safety and found that in general, consumers were less willing to engage in behaviors that involve questioning clinicians’ practices or judgment [19].…”