When the Institute of Medicine released its landmark report on medical errors in 1999, they shot a statistic that was heard around the world: “As many as 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors.”

While the report has yet to create a significant impact on the improvements needed in healthcare, it did galvanize a movement among individuals to advance the cause of patient safety. It also spurred some changes in the actual practice of healthcare. National organizations, such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, mandated that hospitals must implement new safety practices including improving communication, verifying surgical sites and securing patient identification. Furthermore, teaching hospitals are required to limit the number of intern and resident training hours to reduce medical errors caused by fatigue.

Becoming more proactive when you meet with your doctor is a message promoted on virtually all of the reputable health information Web sites. It can mean the difference between life and death in more instances than you would imagine. There are many kinds of ways you can be personally engaged on behalf of yourself or a loved one when it comes to healthcare encounters. The days are long gone, if they ever truly existed in the first place, when you could simply rely on getting all your information from your doctor.

Our Medical Director and Founder, Dr. Cari Oliver, writes extensively on how you can be engaged in your healthcare experience in her upcoming book, Balancing the Doctor – Patient Relationship: Getting What You Need. One way to begin to be proactive is to spend some time before your next visit with your doctor thinking about what the primary goal is you have for the visit. Write it down, along with any questions related to that goal. Your doctor is not going to be able to answer forty questions so keep the list manageable. You should also think about other places you might seek (like well-respected Web sites) answers to your longer list of questions.

I’ll let you know, here on our Cautious Patient Foundation Web site, when Cari’s new book is published. Among other options, we plan to make the book available as a free download on our Web site. However, I want to suggest another valuable site for your exploration. It’s not as well known as, say, the CDC Web site but it is full of interesting and useful healthcare information.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ, is a U.S. government agency trying to get the word out about, among other issues, the importance of asking questions in medical settings. They have a public service announcement prepared for television that takes a light-hearted approach to encouraging us to ask questions of the medical professionals we encounter in our healthcare journey. I wouldn’t be surprised if part of their reason for airing this spot is to also encourage the healthcare profession to be more open to inquiry. It’s only sixty seconds, so go take a look at it right now:

There are other short videos on their YouTube site you might also want to check out. This is a good site and I would encourage you to bookmark it on your favorites list.

There’s still no one you can expect to care more about your health than you. So, stay alert and stay safe out there!

Last month, Maureen Dowd wrote a thought provoking and very personal op-ed piece for The New York Times titled, “Giving Doctors Orders.” Her article sheds light on a very important issue in today’s healthcare industry – and a dilemma all of us will encounter at some point either in our lives or those of our loved ones. If you have not read her article, I highly encourage you do so.

I found Maureen’s story incredibly moving. She shared her experience of her brother, Michael, entering a hospital with pneumonia and ended up contracting four other infections in the intensive care unit, where he later died. Maureen noted in her article that she “saw infractions of the rules in the I.C.U. where Michael died, but I never called out anyone.

In this video blog, I’ll share with you some information available on the Cautious Patient Foundation website that may provide you with new ways of thinking and creative approaches to help you to get what you need from your doctor and become more effective in managing your own healthcare.

I hope you find this information helpful. If you have other tips or best practices to share, let us know in the comments.