Risk Managers, Physicians, and Disclosure of Harmful Medical Errors

Autor: W. Claiborne Dunagan, Elizabeth A. Summy, Amy D. Waterman, Thomas H. Gallagher, Jane Garbutt, Wendy Levinson, David J. Loren, Kerry M. Bommarito, Alison G. Ebers, Victoria J. Fraser
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 36:101-108
ISSN: 1553-7250
DOI: 10.1016/s1553-7250(10)36018-1
Popis: Physicians are encouraged to disclose medical errors to patients, which often requires close collaboration between physicians and risk managers.An anonymous national survey of 2,988 healthcare facility-based risk managers was conducted between November 2004 and March 2005, and results were compared with those of a previous survey (conducted between July 2003 and March 2004) of 1,311 medical physicians in Washington and Missouri. Both surveys included an error-disclosure scenario for an obvious and a less obvious error with scripted response options.More risk managers than physicians were aware that an error-reporting system was present at their hospital (81% versus 39%, p.001) and believed that mechanisms to inform physicians about errors in their hospital were adequate (51% versus 17%, p.001). More risk managers than physicians strongly agreed that serious errors should be disclosed to patients (70% versus 49%, p.001). Across both error scenario, risk managers were more likely than physicians to definitely recommend that the error be disclosed (76% versus 50%, p.001) and to provide full details about how the error would be prevented in the future (62% versus 51%, p.001). However, physicians were more likely than risk managers to provide a full apology recognizing the harm caused by the error (39% versus 21%, p.001).Risk managers have more favorable attitudes about disclosing errors to patients compared with physicians but are less supportive of providing a full apology. These differences may create conflicts between risk managers and physicians regarding disclosure. Health care institutions should promote greater collaboration between these two key participants in disclosure conversations.
Databáze: OpenAIRE