Discussion II Review the following article from the NY Times: www.nytimes.com/20
ID: 368666 • Letter: D
Question
Discussion II
Review the following article from the NY Times: www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us/18apology.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
What did you think? Do you think a good Risk Management strategy is to Deny and Defend or to simply approach the patient and say "I'm very sorry"? Should this approach be taught at medical schools? In hospitals? How does accepting responsibility rather than denying fault change the "culture" of healthcare and the relationship between patients and clinicians?
Explanation / Answer
The article states the importance of responsibility for doctors and owning up to their mistake. The occasional errors and diagnosis has been discussed in the article and the example of Tapas Das has been presented. He acknowledged his mistake to the patient instead of denying it. The importance of improving patient safety and communication has been presented. It is necessary to cure the malpractice crisis rather than the defensiveness.
It is important to keep the risk management strategy as a simple owning up to the mistake strategy. Crisis cannot he managed by denying it. It is necessary to accept the responsibility for safer medicine practices and maintaining a strong culture of healthcare. It will be useful to maintain a strong relationship between the patients and clinicians by respecting the safe practices and not defending them in case of mistakes.