QUALITY: Seeing is Believing

We write a lot about health care quality, but it’s nice to actually experience it.

Eight years ago, after a minor foot operation at a well-known hospital, I was sent home with the wrong post-surgical instructions. Being a reasonably well-informed patient (or I guess the term nowadays is health care consumer), I had already discussed my post-op care with my surgeon and knew I should ignore those written instructions. They probably wouldn’t have caused lasting injury but would sure have hurt if I had tried to follow them.

Last week, I had another very brief, very routine outpatient procedure at another hospital in the DC area. It was a different experience, and one that I think holds out some hope that we can make health care better. Every single doctor or nurse that came anywhere near me asked me my name, asked what I was there for—and then verified that the information was correct on my wristband. (Just as they were starting the anesthesia, I remember thinking "Enough already, I know all about Don Berwick and patient safety!" but I think the words that actually came out were, "When you start putting any woman in my family under anesthesia, we start talking about chocolate.") I went home with the right instructions. And the doctor called me on Monday morning to check up on me—and to doublecheck who my primary care doctor is so she could send the report. Care coordination! The doctor kindly avoided pointing out the irony that she had to call and ask the name because she couldn’t read my handwriting.