What the most striking aspect of the day was, of course, watching Bleedout. The perspective I had was probably very different from what others might have had, however. I work at the same healthcare organization where Judy Burrow was hurt due to medical error. As I shared with everyone, I have had a strange relationship with my work. One of the Advocate hospitals was the hospital where my dad was mistreated and we had to write letters for months to get the bill forgiven. Because of the merger, I now work at the same healthcare organization.
Steven and Margo’s journey was heartbreaking. As I commented after the movie, I was glad that he was able to record every detail as much as he could. One thing we should advise patients as patient advocates (which I believe everyone in healthcare organization should stand at the same side of the patients) is to keep all the records in the process of care. I realized my dad passed away due to medical error years later. The care he received was very fragmented with no continuity of care even before the realization of medical error, which was the reason why my journey to pharmacy started.
There is so much focus on patient safety in the inpatient setting, ignoring what happens in outpatient. I wondered if Steven did not make the movie, would the hospital know how much she suffered? How much agony the family has to go through? Does it even matter to them?
I know many of us are very angry. And this is a good anger. Not all angers are bad. As Regina has said the first day, turning negatives to positives is the best we can do.
Families and patients who are hurt cannot move on. We move with it. It is our job to make sure they are not hurt no more than they are already hurt. Because we are the same team as patients.