Patient safety education
Safe care is something we do with you, not to you. Everything here is written for patients and families — how to prevent infection, avoid falls, take blood thinners safely, and ask the questions that catch problems early.
Speak up — it's your body and you have a right to know
MISH is a firm supporter of Speak Up™, a national patient safety campaign from The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It asks patients to become active, informed members of their own care team. If you or your family has a safety concern, say so.
Ask questions
If you don't understand, ask again. And again. It's your body.
Pay attention to your care
Check you're getting the right treatment and the right medicine from the right person. Don't assume.
Learn about your condition
Understand the tests you're having and what your treatment plan is meant to achieve.
Bring an advocate
Ask a family member or friend to be there, listen, and speak up on your behalf.
Know your medicines
What you take and why. Medication errors are the most common mistake in health care.
Choose a checked organisation
The Joint Commission inspects hospitals against national quality standards.
Take part in every decision
You are the centre of the health care team, not a bystander to it.
Speak Up™ videos
- About your care
- Know your rights
- Preparing for surgery
- Prevent errors in your care
- About your pain
- Take medication safely
- To prevent infection
- Prevent the spread of infection
- Antibiotics: know the facts
- Reduce the risk of falling
- Ask your advocate to speak up for you
- Avoid a return trip to the hospital
- At the doctor's office
- At home
Speak Up™ brochures
- Right ID, right care
- About your care
- Help avoid mistakes in your surgery
- Anesthesia and sedation
- Antibiotics: know the facts
- Help avoid mistakes with your medications
- X-rays, MRIs and other imaging tests
- Five things you can do to prevent infection
Speak Up™ materials are written in plain language for a general audience. They are not comprehensive statements of accreditation requirements, nor clinical practice guidelines. The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organisation and the oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in US health care.
Safety topics
Open a topic to see the materials. If your care team has pointed you at something specific, it's in here.
Preventing infection 4 documents
Controlling the spread of infection is a team effort, and you're on the team. Be informed, be empowered, be prepared.
Hand hygiene 3 documents
The single most important and easiest thing any of us can do to control infection.
Preventing falls 12 documents
More than one in four people over 65 falls each year, and fewer than half tell their doctor. One fall doubles the chance of another. Most falls cause no injury — but one in five causes a broken bone or a head injury, and the fear of falling alone is enough to make people less active, which makes another fall more likely. It is preventable, and these will show you how.
CDC STEADI programme
- How to stay independent
- What you can do to prevent falls
- For caregivers
- Home fall safety checklist
- Chair rise exercise
- Postural hypotension and falls
Fact sheets
Anticoagulation (blood thinners) 29 documents
A guide to taking anticoagulation medication safely, and the things you'll want to know about your own. If you're having surgery, start with the stopping guide.
Start here
Warfarin (Coumadin)
- Treatment with warfarin
- Coumadin stop and restart guide
- Dosing calendar
- Anticoagulation information at your fingertips
- Vitamin K in the diet and Coumadin
- Vitamin K content of food
- USDA: vitamin K content of selected foods
- Herbal products: what warfarin patients need to know
Bridging
- Inpatient bridging for patients on warfarin
- Inpatient bridging: patient instruction form
- Outpatient bridging for patients on warfarin
- Outpatient bridging: patient instruction form
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs)
- DOAC patient education comparison
- Apixaban (Eliquis): treatment
- Apixaban (Eliquis): FDA medication guide
- Dabigatran (Pradaxa): treatment
- Edoxaban (Savaysa): medication guide
- Rivaroxaban (Xarelto): treatment
- Rivaroxaban (Xarelto): FDA medication guide
- Enoxaparin (Lovenox): treatment
- Betrixaban (Bevyxxa): FDA medication guide
Blood clots
- Preventing blood clots while you're in hospital
- Treating blood clots: DVT, PE and how they're treated
Living with it day to day
Pain management 4 documents
Opioid safety and overdose 4 documents
Long-term access line care 3 documents
If you're going home with a PICC line, port or tunnelled catheter, these cover how to look after it and when to call us.
Quitting tobacco 2 resources
KanQuit is the Kansas Tobacco Quitline — free coaching, and free nicotine replacement for those who qualify.
If you need help now
These lines are free, confidential and open every hour of every day. You do not need to be a MISH patient to use them.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 any time, for yourself or for someone you're worried about. Veterans: call 988 and press 1.
Crisis Text Line. Text HOME to 741741 to reach a trained crisis counsellor by message rather than voice.
Emergency. If someone is in immediate physical danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Ask us anything about your care
That's the whole point of Speak Up. If something doesn't look right, or you've read something here you want to talk through, call us.