Making Mistakes Flashcards
Why is ‘whistle-blowing’ in medicine difficult?
- drs are afraid of consequences because they think it means incompetence
- norm of non-criticism of colleagues/system/process
What are common factors that contribute to error-making in medicine?
- stress
- fatigue
- covering for colleagues
- professional culture
- feeling that decisions should be made alone
- unable to admit uncertainty
What is person-centred approach to addressing error?
- approach that believes that the error is down to human weakness and believes some humans are more prone to error and targets them
- blame-oriented approach
What is system-centred approach to addressing error?
- approach that believes that errors are caused by systems of which humans only form one part
- eg. those who make the most mistakes are carrying out ‘high-risk tasks’
- addresses tasks and environmental factors
Describe what the Duty of Candour is
- creates legal requirement for health and social care organisations to inform people when they have been harmed as a result of the care/treatment they have received
- established new criminal offences of ill-treatment/willful neglect
What are the GMC’s steps in the Duty of Candour?
when a mistake is made, health professionals must:
- tell the patient that something has gone wrong
- apologise to the patient
- offer an appropriate remedy or support to put matters right
- explain fully to the patient, the short and long term effects of what has happened
What are the 3 components of negligence?
claimant must establish:
- they are owed duty of care by defendant
- that defendant breached that duty by failing to provide reasonable care
- that the breach of duty caused the claimant’s injuries
What is the Bolam test?
a doctor is not guilty of negligence is he has acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a reasonable body of medical men skilled in that particular art
What is the Bolitho test?
- modified bolam to add
- the professional opinion must be capable of withstanding logical analysis