Patient Safety Week and the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Guide

SAN ANTONIO, March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation is celebrating Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 6-12, 2011, a national education and awareness building campaign led by the National Patient Safety Foundation for improving patient safety at the local level.  The mission is to encourage and strengthen collaboration between healthcare providers, patients and their families.  Simultaneously, the San Antonio based Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation has published The Batz Guide for Bedside Advocacy.

"The Batz Guide for Bedside Advocacy is available on the Batz Patient Safety's website for download. Our goal is to give patients and their families the knowledge they need to be an active part of their care team and reduce the number of preventable medical errors," said Laura Batz Townsend, founder of the Foundation.

The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation is committed to providing patients with informative safety tips and resources such as the Batz Guide for Bedside Advocacy to ensure a safe hospital experience. Beginning with pre-surgery, the comprehensive manual carefully examines procedures, treatment options, risks and side effects, monitoring, staffing, pain management, medication logs, medical care teams, vital signs, post-surgery questions and follow up.  By acting as a team, patients, families, doctors, nurses and hospitals are safe, informed and protected.

About Louise H. Batz Foundation

The Mission of the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, a 501c3 public charity established in April 2009, is to help prevent medical errors by ensuring that patients and families have the knowledge they need to promote a safe hospital experience for their loved ones, and to support innovative advancements in patient safety. The Foundation's greatest hope is that families, patients, and caregivers will work together as a TEAM to improve safety in our hospitals. The areas of focus include: community awareness; online resources; and education.

The driving force behind the Foundation is Laura Batz Townsend, the daughter of Louise H. Batz.  Laura's mom had an amazing compassion for everyone and a faith that was unwavering. Sadly, Mrs. Batz lost her life to a preventable medical error during a hospital stay. The mission of the Foundation is aligned to honor her memory by improving the community. For more information about The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation visit www.louisebatz.org.

About Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW) Patient Safety Awareness Week is an annual National Patient Safety Foundation led education and awareness campaign for healthcare safety.  NPSF is the founding sponsor of Patient Safety Awareness Week and has led the event since 2002, producing a visible campaign theme and robust toolkits specific to the most pressing patient safety issues.  The NPSF's mission since its founding in 1997 is to improve the safety of care provided to patients. NPSF is an independent, not-for-profit 501c3 organization.

SOURCE THE LOUISE H. BATZ PATIENT SAFETY FOUNDATION