Speaking Plainly: Communicating the Patient's Role in Health Care Safety

摘要

The development and testing of a patient fact sheet entitled Five Steps to Safer Health Care illustrate important research considerations associated with the process of crafting messages to help patients reduce health care system errors and improve the safety of their care. The basis for the fact sheet was a larger set of messages drawn from a review of the health care literature by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Researchers at the Centers for Medicare AND Medicaid Services conducted testing to determine which messages resonated with Medicare beneficiaries, explored the beneficiaries relationships with their health care providers, and considered how that context might affect their responses to the messages. Researchers tested the resulting patient fact sheet with physicians to better understand their potential reactions and to formulate strategies for disseminating and promoting the product. Potential cultural differences were identified and discussed with Spanish-dominant consumers (i.e., persons who prefer speaking in Spanish, regardless of their ability to speak English) to enhance development of an effective Spanish-language version of the patient fact sheet. This body of research studies suggested not only which messages to emphasize, but also which secondary audiences to target, and how Spanish-dominant consumers might differ from others in their understanding and use of these health messages. Findings from these studies also indicated some opportunities for and barriers to promoting the messages.