March
Patient Safety
March 7-13th is (PSAW) Patient Safety Awareness Week. (PSAW) is a national education and awareness-building campaign for improving patient safety at the local level. Hospitals and healthcare organizations across the country are encouraged to plan events to promote patient safety within their own organizations. Educational activities are centered on educating patients on how to become involved in their own health care, as well as working with hospitals to build partnerships with their patient community. For more information on this, please visit: http://www.npsf.org/hp/psaw/
DVT Month
March is DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) Awareness Month and March 9th is National DVT Risk Screening Day. DVT occurs when a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the lower limbs. A complication of DVT, pulmonary embolism, can occur when a fragment of a blood clot breaks loose from the wall of the vein and migrates to the lungs, where it blocks a pulmonary artery or one of its branches. For more information visit:
www.dvtawareness.com
www.clotcare.org
www.preventdvt.org
World Kidney Day and Kidney Month
March 11 is World Kidney Day. Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 23 million adults in the US and is a major public health challenge. You are at risk for kidney disease if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or a family history of kidney failure. For more information on this disease, please visit:
www.nkdep.nih.gov
www.nih.gov