Throughout medical school, I have enjoyed and actively participated in counseling patients about lifestyle changes, medication compliance, preventative care and other difficult issues. By implementing strategies of assessing readiness for change and instituting small changes, I had done a fairly good job in engaging patients to instill positive changes in their lives. Today,  I realized was that what I had been doing was negotiating with my patients. Negotiations are not easy, and I certainly fall short when negotiations involve finances, as I am less skilled in navigating this world than I am in the medical field. But I realized that these are vital skills that can be translated clinically. Paul Levy taught us today that we need to get past the positions and think about the underlying interests. This presents an interesting and effectual way for us to negotiate with our patients and to create value for them. We… Continue reading →

I remember vividly the feelings of sorrow and outrage I felt when I first heard the story of Lewis Blackman as a second year student in my school’s patient safety course. Though I had dealt with adverse outcomes in my past clinical experiences, I was shocked and saddened by the series of errors and oversights which led to the death of a promising young boy after an elective surgical procedure.

Two years later as I re-watched the video at the Marseille Patient Safety Conference, I again felt an incredible sadness and frustration, though this time for a slightly different reason. As a recent graduate of medical school with two years of clinical rotations under my belt, I identified in Lewis Blackman’s story the slew of medical errors, communication breakdowns, patient safety events, adverse outcomes and near misses that I have personally witnessed (and occasionally participated in) as a student. While… Continue reading →