We loose 400,000 lives of our patient per year due to preventable medical error.

Medical errors occurring to our patients can lead to mixture of feelings including apprehension, decreased confidence, doubt, and self-blame. Our instinct is to become defensive and try to externalize our problems. These behaviors and emotions can drive us away from the very important lesson which is how to build and deliver better and safer quality healthcare.

Having a supportive and nurturing environment that healthcare providers are welcomed and embraced when error are reported would be the initial step to achieve zero preventable harm.

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just be afraid of not learning from them.” Without learning, errors will repeat over and over again.

Paternalism in medicine continues to perseverate and this should be questioned and re-examined. Physicians go through many years of education and apprenticeship to gain experiences and expertise. I believe knowledge-based value judgement is necessary practicing medicine; however, it should not be a sole method, generalized or inherited practicies, or considered as a norm when it comes to treating our patients.

Any encounters with our patients involve informed consent, which is a process that multiple parties are involved to achieve benefits of patients. Making mutual decisions should include ethical standards: autonomy, fidelity, beneficence/nonmaleficence, veracity, and justice. Competency would also be crucial to provide our patients with best possible options treating their illness. Ultimately, this will lead to ethical integrity of healthcare providers to provide safe and quality patient care.

Marseille Academy initiated its journey today. The video of 15yo boy Lewis, the personal story from Mr. Gentry, the domino game activity, and lectures were utilized to emphasize importance of effective communication in health care. I had a chance to intensely probe and exam my previous interactions with patients, their families, nursing staffs, and other members in treatment teams. Throughout the day, I had numerous moments when I recalled my memories from when I volunteered at multiple different health care settings as a college student.

We take an oath during white coat ceremony to DO NO HARM to our future patients. We have seen from reports that there are hundred thousands of lives are lost due to medical errors. According to the BMJ 2016, medical errors were third leading cause of deaths in the US after heart disease and cancer. Not making any mistakes treating our patients would be ideal… Continue reading →