| Factual questions: | |
| Directed to doctors and nurses | |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: How long will I be in hospital for? | Having surgery? What you need to know. Questions to ask your doctor and your surgeon (AHRQ 2005)—recommends you find out how long your hospital stay will be20 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: When will I return to my normal activities? | Having surgery? What you need to know. Questions to ask your doctor and your surgeon (AHRQ 2005)—recommends you should ask how long it will be before you can return to your normal activities20 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: What signs should I be looking for to tell me that my wound may not be healing as it should? | Partners in quality: taking an active role in your healthcare—recommends you should be aware of how and when to change dressings to avoid the risk of infection21 |
| Preventing infections in the hospital: what you as a patient can do—recommends patients should be aware of how to reduce the risk of infection, for instance by keeping skin around the dressing of an intravenous catheter clean, or telling the nurse if the dressing gets loose or wet, or if drainage tube becomes dislodged9 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: How long will the pain last? | Getting the most out of your visit with your doctor—recommends that you should know what pain relief you will be given and how long the pain should last22 |
| Factual questions: | |
| Directed to doctors | |
| Would you ask a doctor: How long will I have to be off work after the operation? | Getting the most out of your visit with your doctor—recommends that you should ask how long you will be off work22 |
| Would you ask a doctor: What are the alternatives to surgery? | Having surgery? What you need to know. Questions to ask your doctor and your surgeon—recommends you should ask about alternatives to surgery and about the benefits and risks of surgery in relation to these alternatives20 |
| Would you ask a doctor: How is the procedure done? | Twenty tips to prevent medical errors—recommends that patients should be clear on exactly what will be done as part of the operation10 |
| Challenging questions: | |
| Directed to doctors and nurses | |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: Why are you removing that piece of monitoring equipment? | Speak Up—Help prevent errors in your care: for surgical patients—recommends that you should be aware of equipment that you have attached to you and how it works—for example if you have a catheter and it is not running properly (eg, dripping too fast or too slow) you should tell someone and recommends that you should be familiar with the monitoring equipment that is being used for your care23 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: Who are you, and what is your job? | Patient Safety Tips—recommends that if you are not sure who someone is or what their role is, you should ask24 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: I don’t think that is the medication I am on. Can you check please? | Speak Up—Help prevent errors in your care: for surgical patients—recommends that if you think you are about to be given the wrong medication you should say23 |
| Would you ask a doctor/nurse: Have you washed your hands? | “Please Ask” Campaign—encourages patients to ask healthcare staff if they have washed their hands7 |
| Challenging questions: | |
| Directed to doctors | |
| Would you ask a doctor: How many times have you done this operation? | Twenty tips to prevent medical errors—recommends that patient should be informed of how many times the hospital has done the operation10 |
| Speak Up—Help prevent errors in your care: for surgical patients—recommends that you should ask your doctor specifically about the specialist training that qualifies them to treat you23 |
| Questions to Ask Your Doctor—recommends you should find out about the doctor’s qualifications to provide the treatment and what success and failure the doctor has had with previous patients.11 |