2 Easy steps that you can take today to help prevent harm to your patients:
1. ) For patients with known ongoing medical conditions, allergies, medical warnings, and implanted devices and/or on ongoing medications, please recommend MedicAlert®’s Service.
2. )
If your PMS system supports current MedicAlert e-referral technology, save yourself time by obtaining their informed consent and sending an e-referral, we will contact them directly to complete the process.
Alternatively:
Obtain their informed consent, fill-in their medical information on the MedicAlert Enrolment Form and if time is short, have a nurse or reception staff assist them to complete their section of the form, then fold, seal and freepost the form back to MedicAlert.
THE STATS ON AVOIDABLE HARM
The most recent Health Quality and
Safety Commission Report on Avoidable Harm in New Zealand shows avoidable harm
trends continue to increase. This is despite considerable investment by DHB’s,
Health Providers and their respective Health IT Vendors, in Connected Health IT
Solutions. Right now, 16 people in every thousand who utilise the New Zealand
Health System will either die, or experience serious harm. Impacting on their
future quality of life and/or the quality of life of loved ones.
One of New Zealand’s challenges remains that Health IT systems, be
they connected or not, are not generally practical for Health Consumer
utilisation, when they are experiencing a medical emergency. In emergency
situations, which usually originate in the community, Health Consumers can find
it difficult to communicate due to stress, anxiety, confusion, embarrassment,
pain and unconsciousness, essentially leaving the person incapacitated. They
are often first highly dependent on Good Samaritans and First Responders, who
are not necessarily trained paramedics. Rural people may be at even greater
risk, due to longer ambulatory response times.
In any situation, without the
ability to promptly and reliably identify a person and their known risks,
Health IT systems can become redundant at the most critical of times. More so,
during Civil Emergencies (floods, earthquakes, pandemics etc.) when power and
data utility systems fail, or simply when people leave their homes. Without
reliable access to vital information in the most unlikely of situations, a
Health Consumers exposure to avoidable harm can result in an increased burden
of cost on the Health System, before a person gets to a Medical Facility, let
alone once there.
Health Consumers who utilize a MedicAlert® service supported body
worn and clinically validated Medical ID, act in their own best interest. They
‘Own’ their problems and want to protect themselves when being exposed to a
medical event, particularly when a Health Practitioner is not their regular
doctor or nurse and find they are time poor and/or working under pressure.
MedicAlert Foundations system prioritises access to high value actionable
information. The Service is personal, it acts as a valuable reminder for your
patient and empowers your patient to act responsibly to keep themselves safe.
MedicAlert Service goes with the Patient, wherever they go, ‘at the top of the
cliff’ (for want of a better analogy), helping prevent harm occurring, or
providing end of life care requirements when the Patient requires.