Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
 Modules  Module 7: Adverse Patient Outcomes
1. Introduction to Course
2. History of Patient Safety
3. The Science of Human Error
4. The Analysis of Medical Error
5. Evidence-Based Medical Practice
6. Communication and Information Transfer
7. Adverse Patient Outcomes
8. The Role of the Patient and Family
9. Environmental Safety in the Medical Setting
10. Safe Medical Practice In Ambulatory Settings

NM Uniform Healthcare Decisions Act

  • Individual is presumed to have the capacity to make a health care
    decision, to give or revoke an advanced directive, and to designate a surrogate decision maker
  • A patient does not necessarily lack decisional capacity because
    they are refusing treatment
  • A determination that an individual lacks decisional capacity shall be made by two qualified health care professionals, one of whom shall be the primary physician. If the lack of capacity is determined to exist because of mental illness or Developmental Disability, one of the qualified health care professionals shall be a person whose training and expertise aid in the assessment of functional impairment
  • The individual may challenge a determination that he/she lacks capacity.
  • A judge determines if an individual is incompetent
  • If the patient is unable to communicate his/her wishes and does not have a written advanced directive/living will, the Act establishes a hierarchy of decision makers to communicate the wishes of the patient to the medical team:
    • Spouse
    • Significant Other
    • Adult Children
    • Parents
    • Adult Siblings
    • Grandparents
    • Adult who exhibits care and concern for the patient, and who knows the patient’s wishes
  • The decision maker communicates what the patient would have wanted based on previous conversations with the patient and based on the patient’s values and wishes, and NOT on the decision maker’s values or what the decision maker wants for the patient
 
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