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ACEP Now: Vol 35 – No 04 – April 2016Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page
How to Handle a Medical Mistake
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One Response to “How to Handle a Medical Mistake”
May 21, 2016
Charles A. Pilcher MD FACEPThis article and the smartphone image need better correlation.
The question is really “How do I tell my patient NOW, in real time, when I just gave him/her the wrong drug/dose – or some other error?”
I suggest that honesty and transparency are needed at all stages of the event. Early, we tell what we know. We apologize. “Sorry” is a good word. We tell what we are doing and why. And we tell what we WILL do. We do not discuss things we don’t know, like why the error happened. That is more complex and requires time, usually through an RCA. We promise to update everyone concerned as soon as we know anything certain. We follow through. And whenever possible, we include the affected patient/family in our process.
Fears of malpractice are overblown. An egregious error will (and in our system probably should) result in litigation/negotiation. Apologizing doesn’t change that and in fact reduces exposure, time, stress and expense.