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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Senior Citizens, Other Adults Encouraged to Get
Involved with Their Health Care
AHRQ and Ad Council Launch Questions are the
Answer
 March
12, 2007 - HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality joined with The Advertising Council to launch a national
public service advertising campaign designed to encourage adults to take
a more proactive role in their health care. The campaign was
launched during national Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 4-10,
2007).
Medical mistakes occurring in hospitals account for
an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 deaths each year or a minimum of 120
deaths per day, according to the Institute of Medicine.
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That means that these mistakes lead to more deaths
per year than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS.
Research
shows that consumers who get more involved with their health care can
greatly improve the safety of their care, but patients are generally
unaware of what to do to help prevent medical mistakes.
According to a recent study conducted by AHRQ and
the Kaiser Family Foundation, 57 percent of Americans do not believe
that preventable medical errors occur often.
The new "Questions Are the Answer: Get More
Involved With Your Health Care" PSA campaign, which was created pro bono
by ad agency McCann Erickson Detroit, aims to encourage all patients and
caregivers to become more active in their health care by asking
questions.
The campaign includes new television, radio, print
and Web advertising that directs audiences to call a toll-free number,
(1-800-931-AHRQ), and visit a comprehensive Web site,
www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer
to obtain tips on how to help prevent medical mistakes and become a
partner in their health care. The site also features an interactive
"Question Builder" that allows consumers to generate a customized list
of questions for their health care providers that they can bring to each
medical appointment.
"The goal of this new campaign is to get patients
more involved and to ultimately improve the safety of health care for
all Americans," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike
Leavitt. "We want people to feel comfortable having a dialogue with
their health care providers."
AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., agrees.
"This campaign is a natural outgrowth of AHRQ's ongoing efforts to
improve the safety and quality of health care. We hope that these new
public service advertisements will show millions of Americans that they
shouldn't be afraid to ask questions related to their health care and
that their providers are interested in answering them."
This campaign is just one important piece of the
many efforts that are taking place to improve the safe delivery of
health care and reduce medical mistakes. For example, AHRQ worked with
the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association
to launch a campaign called 5 Steps to Safer Health Care and has
published a wide variety of materials in English and Spanish to help
consumers receive safe, high-quality health care. AHRQ also funds a
variety of projects to improve the safety of health care through health
information technology, teamwork among health care providers, and more.
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Video:
Many Senior Citizens Risk Medical Errors Due to Low
Health Literacy |
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Difficulty
understanding 'medical speak' found in one-third
of patients
Feb. 12, 2007 To get
well, you need to follow the doctor's orders.
But, to follow the doctor's orders, you have to
understand them. Senior citizens are the most
likely not to understand medical instructions.
Many other Americans, too, suffer from low
health literacy, or difficulty understanding
"medical speak." This is a problem affecting more
than one-third of patients in the U.S. health
care system. View this video to learn more.
Click here to watch video. |
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"Research continues to reveal the large number of
mistakes that can be prevented if individuals take a more active role in
their health care, yet we have found that this is not an issue that is
top-of-mind for Americans," according to Peggy Conlon, President & CEO
of the Ad Council.
"We are proud to partner with AHRQ to shed light on
this critical issue and provide consumers with very simple steps that
they can take to improve their health care. The ads are entertaining and
memorable, while motivating, and I believe they will have a great impact
on the health of our country."
The Web site,
www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer,
features tips for patients to become more involved in their health care,
including: bring a list of questions to each medical appointment; take
notes in the examination room; make sure you receive the results of
medical tests; and, upon leaving the hospital, make sure you understand
instructions regarding follow-up care and medications.
The PSAs are being distributed to 28,000 media
stations nationwide this week. Another campaign created specifically for
the Hispanic community will launch in late 2007. Per the Ad Council's
donated media model, all of the new PSAs will air and run in advertising
time and space donated by the media.
AHRQ
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (www.ahrq.gov)
is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. AHRQ's
mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness
of health care for all Americans. AHRQ's research helps people make more
informed decisions and improve the quality of health care services and
reduce medical mistakes.
Ad Council
The Ad Council (www.adcouncil.org)
is a private, non-profit organization that marshals talent from the
advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media,
and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to produce,
distribute and promote public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit
organizations and government agencies in issue areas such as improving
the quality of life for children, preventative health, education,
community well-being, environmental preservation and strengthening
families.
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