Studies have shown that a surprisingly large proportion of hospitalized patients are not aware of their diagnoses or treatment plan and that their preferences are often not taken into account in advanced care planning. This failure to provide patient-centered care indicates a need for increased patient engagement in safety and quality efforts. This toolkit published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is designed to help hospitals develop partnerships with patients around improving safety. Developed with input from clinicians and patients, the guide emphasizes four strategies—working with patients as advisors, improving bedside communication, integrating patients and families into shift changes, and using patient input to improve the discharge process. An AHRQ WebM&M perspective by Dr. Saul Weingart discusses the practical challenges of engaging patients in improvement efforts.

This Web site provides resources for clinicians and patients to help achieve safe care transitions.

This Web site provides access to materials for patient safety improvement efforts in Minnesota, including initiatives to reduce adverse drug events and hospital collaboratives to implement best practices.

This column offers advice for consumers on what personal health and medical information to prepare before going to the emergency department.

This AHRQ-funded toolkit outlines how one Midwestern hospital system successfully implemented a patient advisory council. A companion toolkit illustrates how the council worked with the hospital to develop and implement a medication list initiative.

This report analyzes an incident of medication error that led to a patient's death, discusses the subsequent actions taken by the health board, and calls for a coordinated approach to medication reconciliation in New Zealand.

This article reports on the results from Joint Commission site inspections of five Boston-area hospitals.

This announcement describes the 19 projects funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2006 that studies the potential of simulation to improve patient safety.

This report provides an assessment of health literacy data analyzed for different demographic characteristics.