Teaching people to become better advocates for themselves in the public health-care system is the aim of a one-day conference Nov. 7.

The Empowered Patient Conference aims to help people play a more meaningful role in their health care decisions and communicate more effectively with health care providers.

Patient empowerment and safety is a topic near and dear to keynote speaker Helen Haskell’s heart.

In 2000, her 15-year-old son died from a preventable medical error while hospitalized in the U.S.

“He had a medication error and the staff didn’t recognize that he was dying,” said Haskell.

Shortly afterward, she formed Mothers Against Medical Error, a group dedicated to improving patient safety and providing support for patients who have experienced medical injury.

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2004 found that an estimated 7.5 per cent of patients admitted to acute-care hospitals in Canada in 2000 experienced one or more adverse events (unintended injuries or complications resulting in death, disability or prolonged hospital stay that arise from health-care management).

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s recent Clostridium difficile outbreak that involved nearly 100 people is one adverse event example, Haskell said.

Following the outbreak, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control recommended enhanced cleaning and infection control practices.

Haskell and Julia Hallisy – co-founders of the U.S.-based Empowered Patient Coalition and keynote speakers at the Nanaimo conference – will talk about how people can ensure they get the best care possible.

She said the pair will discuss things like disinfecting your own hospital room and the right questions to ask medical staff.

“I think empowering people to take charge of their own health care is pretty important,” said Haskell. “The health care system is so overworked, nobody else is going to be giving your medical issues the same attention as you will.”

Rhonda Nixon, a Parksville resident and the conference’s organizer, found that out the hard way when she suffered a preventable medical injury during surgery at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

“Following that, I began to research how often adverse events occur and what resources are available to those who experience them,” she said. “I learned I could have communicated more effectively and asked more questions. I realized there was no one location with consolidated information.”

Nixon said the one-day conference is intended to give people all of this information.

Speakers include Alan Cassels, a drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria and co-author of Selling Sickness; Dr. Malcolm Maclure, a University of British Columbia professor and epidemiologist; and Susan Precious, a Vancouver lawyer specializing in health care law.

Registration closes Sunday (Nov. 1) and tickets are $75.

For more information, please go to www.theempoweredpatient.com.

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com