Reducing the risk by designing a safer, shame-free health care environment is a 68-page monograph that offers new supporting research, explores how ineffective communication and low health literacy combine to affect patient safety, provides tools to decrease communication-related adverse events at a system wide level, and helps physicians initiate changes toward a safer and shame-free practice environment. For more information, please visit http://www.amafoundation.org/go/healthliteracy.
After completing this activity, learners should be able to: 1) define the scope of patient safety problems caused by low health literacy and the need to manage the risk they present. 2) recognize the ethical and legal foundations for safe medical practices and patient-centered care. 3) explain patient safety concepts and approaches utilized in designing safer practice environments. 4) identify patient safety practices that reduce the risk of miscommunication and optimize the patient’s ability to safely manage their own care. 5) determine steps toward establishing a climate for change. 6) identify tools and resources for creating safer practice environments. 7) demonstrate how to utilize and implement these tools in a practice environment.