For Healthcare Facilities & Providers
Having an open conversation brings greater peace of mind
If someone experiences serious harm or dies while under your care, Early Discussion and Resolution (EDR) can help. EDR connects you with the patient or their family to talk confidentially about the harm that occurred. This conversation is a chance to acknowledge their experience and share how you plan to prevent similar harm going forward.
EDR is the right thing to do when healthcare doesn’t go as planned.
EDR is a tool for open communication outside of the legal system. An open conversation about patient harm events can help everyone move forward. It promotes learning to help healthcare organizations make care safer for both patients and healthcare workers alike.
4 Things Patients Want
After medical harm, patients and their families want four things:
Information about what happened and why
Information about how the provider or facility will fix the problem
The provider or facility to take responsibility
An apology
EDR doesn’t replace your existing processes for responding to harm… it enhances them.
You can integrate EDR into your organization’s established systems and processes for responding to serious patient harm events. When you incorporate EDR, you will:
Benefit from confidentiality protections for these important conversations, which encourages participants to talk candidly about the harm that occurred
Play a key role in contributing to Oregon’s collective statewide learning system
Why transparency matters
When talking about patient harm, transparency is not optional. Open communication among patients (or their representatives), healthcare providers, and facilities can:
Provide patients with an explanation of what happened and why
Offer a chance for reconciliation
Give healthcare providers and facilities a path to continue to care for the patient
Facilitate learning about (and improvement of) better care delivery systems
Reduce events that harm patients
Maintain trust with patients by sharing important information about their care
How EDR works
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Request a Conversation (or Receive a Request)
EDR starts with a Request for Conversation, which you (or a representative from your facility) fills out and submits online. A patient can also submit a Request for Conversation.
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Have a Conversation
Regardless of who submitted the Request for Conversation, you will coordinate the date, time, and location for the conversation with the patient. A conversation is a time to share what you know so far about what happened.
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Tell Us about the Conversation
By participating in a follow-up survey about how things went, you will help the broader healthcare community better support patients and families in these situations.
Is EDR right for your facility or practice?
EDR might be right for you if all of the following apply:
Care resulted in serious physical injury or death
The event happened in Oregon after July 1, 2014
The event happened at a healthcare facility or involved a healthcare provider
You want to talk to the patient (or their representative) about what happened
Get started with EDR
What might be included in a conversation with a patient?
While many things can be discussed during a conversation, here are a few that may be included:
Information about what happened and why
How the patient’s health and treatment could be affected by the event
An apology
Whether financial or non-financial restitution will be offered
What’s being done to improve care for future patients
Need more guidance on how to have a conversation?
How can EDR help providers or facilities?
The EDR process connects you with the patient to talk confidentially about the harm that occurred. This conversation is a chance to acknowledge the experience of the patient or their family and share how the provider, or facility, plans to prevent similar harm going forward. Talking candidly may allow your facility, the provider, and the patient or family to address lingering questions, restore trust, and seek reconciliation outside of the legal system.
Benefits of EDR:
Communication through EDR always is confidential. Because communication through EDR is protected under Oregon law, you and the patient may be more comfortable talking about these events.
You have an opportunity to talk with the patient or a family member about why harm occurred and maintain the provider-patient relationship.
Talking candidly can help you and the patient restore trust and work toward reconciliation.
Healthcare facilities have a path to resolving patient harm through a voluntary, confidential process—one that also enhances patients’ trust in the facility and its providers.
With EDR, you have the opportunity to respond to questions about what happened and why.
EDR provides an option for reconciliation outside of the legal system; however, using EDR doesn’t prevent pursuing other options.
Using EDR is voluntary, and you can opt-out at any time.
The information that is shared may contribute to strategies for preventing future harm and improving patient care across the state of Oregon.
