Just plain truth and humility go a long way

By Suresh Mohan, M4l, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

After digesting for a few days, I’ve realized our experience at Marseille will stay with me. Discussing my week with peers back home, I was shocked to realize how little they knew (and, thus, cared) about the topic of safety. I received responses of- “well, I guess every field has its downsides” to “Whoa, I didn’t know you were, like, super into that primary care stuff”. It reaffirmed my decision to have attended, and the value of what we learned.

In my view, a lot of issues in patient safety could be solved through two simple things our parents taught us: honesty and humility. Honesty encompasses the obvious actions we ought to take when we’ve committed a mistake- apologize, and tell the truth. It builds trust in place of suspicion, and can potentially prevent “afterharm”. As we’ve been told,… Continue reading →