Errors
Can Electronic Clinical Documentation Prevent Diagnostic Errors – An NEJM Perspective Article
GD Schiff & DW Bates, NEJM, March 25, 2010, Vol 362 (12), 1066-1069.
Not everything about a patient’s life can be gathered from a brief consultation in a clinic. Dr. Berland has devised a fascinating method of looking into the personal lives and troubles of her disabled patients – encouraging them to carry a video camera with them. Read about the unique insight that she gained through this novel, simple idea.
Disclosing Harmful Medical Errors to Patients – An NEJM Current Concepts Article
TH Gallagher et al., NEJM, June 28 2007, Vol 356 (26), 2713-9
Admitting mistakes is always difficult, but it is all the more difficult when one is in a position of trust. Because of this, physicians have a hard time admitting and disclosing errors, for fear of breaking the crucial trust in the doctor-patient relationship. This transparency, however, is crucial, and consequently, policy makers in the US and abroad have been developing different mechanisms to make reporting more standard to the profession. What does this mean for those conditions that we may consider too minor to merit a visit to the doctors? What about privacy?
