Reducing Medical Errors

Medical errors are still prevalent and have a devastating impact on patients and families despite numerous regulatory efforts over the years.

From my perspective as a medical legal consultant, too often there is a surprising lack of communication among care providers.

In this day and age of instantaneous communication with our ubiquitous cell phones why does this happen?

The answers are not clear but may be rooted in physician training and psychology.

As physicians we are taught to be self sufficient and rely on our own interpretive skills and logic to solve medical complexity.

As medical information grows logarithmically maybe our approach is to tacitly acknowledge that what we don't know is outstripping what we do know.

My perspective having evaluated malpractice cases is that many errors could easily avoided by sending a quick text message with a MMS picture (redacted of names for HIPPA compliance) to a knowledgeable colleague or tertiary medical center.

Physicians are naturally collaborative and willing to help. Often a quick exchange of information can fundamentally change the course of care for a patient.

For me, sometimes in the "fog of war" I have greatly benefited from another opinion; especially in time sensitive cases such as stroke.

It is time for all of us to adopt this patient advocacy approach, setting aside our own hubris and seek out rapid second opinions.