The Joint Commission relaunches its refreshed Speak Up program, featuring the Speak Up About Your Care campaign, to help educate and encourage patients to play active roles in their care.

The revamped program includes four components: an infographic (available in three sizes) for patients and families; an animated video (available in English and Spanish) to incorporate in hospital programming; a podcast for healthcare professionals on the value of the Speak Up program; and a distribution guide with recommendations on how healthcare organizations can use the materials.

All the components are available for free download in one package.

Launched in 2002, the Speak Up About Your Care campaign encourages patients to be their own advocates and to:

  • Speak up
  • Pay attention
  • Educate yourself
  • Advocates (family members and friends) can help
  • Know about your new medicine
  • Use a quality healthcare organization
  • Participate in all decisions about your care

“We are pleased to refresh the Speak Up program, starting with the Speak Up About Your Care campaign that first launched more than 15 years ago as the foundation to this patient education program,” says Ana Pujols McKee, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer, The Joint Commission, in a media release from The Joint Commission.

“When patients and their families become advocates in their own health care, they are able to speak up when something doesn’t seem right and make well-informed care decisions. Together, patients and their care team can work to reduce preventable harm.”

The Speak Up program was refreshed after national market research in 2017, including focus group feedback from patients and their families. The focus group identified a need for more succinct and visual materials. Additional Speak Up programs will be updated and debuted over the next several years, per the release.

[Source: The Joint Commission]