Hospital User’s Manual is an easy-to-read book for empowering patients to protect themselves from adverse events while using hospitals. The original version was written in the Korean language by Johns Hopkins and World Health Organization (WHO) trained Dr. Heon-Jae Jeong and Hyeyeon Yoon. The book became a national bestseller.
The authors described counter-error measures like patient ID check as a wall of Swiss Cheese. It is a classic analogy in the patient safety field that the holes of the cheese aligning and leading to patient harms . They then introduced what and how patients and their families can and should do to protect the cheese wall so that patients can enjoy safer care.
Using this analogy as the theoretical framework, the authors wrote this book like a novel where the main characters developed a website called ‘iamCheese.org’ to help patients and caregivers to maintain and become the cheese walls themselves. The site is going to come alive as a companion site to the international version of the book! We will share tips on how patients can not only protect themselves but how to become active participant of their own care. We will also explore how empathy and advocacy in healthcare can improve safety and quality of healthcare, hence creating healing and humble healthcare.
The book is being translated in English, and a significant update is in plan by Dr. Jeong and Dr. Soojin Jun in USA, reaching international audience. During that period, this website will be rebuilt in English too. Stay tuned!
In case you want to see an interview with Dr. Jeong, click here.
The impact of the book is introduced in a seminar held by ISQua and can be found here.
Warmest wishes,
The iamCheese Team