Patients urged to take charge of their care

[unhappycamper]

Patients urged to take charge of their care
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 12, 2009

CAMP LESTER, Okinawa — During Patient Safety Awareness Week, a national initiative that runs through Saturday, health experts are urging patients to take charge of their own care.

"We want patients to ask questions," said Lauren Nobriga, a nurse and the patient safety officer at U.S Naval Hospital Okinawa. "What are these medications for? What are these tests for? What does my follow-up treatment entail?"

The goal is to prevent errors from occurring during medical care, she said.

There are no dumb questions when it comes to health care, hospital spokesman Brian Davis said.

"It’s on the patients to ask if they don’t understand," he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61261