Friday, 4 December 2015

Approach to clinical errors

It has a detrimental effect on the treating doctor. Doctors often experience feeling of being incompetent, lost of confidence and fear. We are all fear of litigations but most patients are not out there to get us. Most of them only want good medical care and find out why the error occurr in the first place. I was told by one of my GP supervisors that it eventually comes down to trust. If the patient trusts you and you develop a good relationship with the patient, they will forgive you most of the time.

The following outlines my approach to clinical errors:
1. Acknowledge the mistake
2. Express regret or apologise that it has happened
3. Open disclosure of the event/incident
4. What can be done now ?

References:
- Check program: challenging clinical situations

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