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Healthcare is complicated, too complicated for any one person to
actuallyown or control the processes of diagnosis and care.
Patients come into our
hospitals for care, and for their benefit and safety we all need
to look upon
ourselves as part of the system of care. Risks are all around,
but often we
fail to see them as our workplace environment becomes more or
lessbackground noise. Complacency is our enemy and therefore each
patients
enemy.
Caring for patients is fraught with danger. !very time we stand
at the
bedside we bring benefits but also risks. Problems with our
systems of careand personal lapses from a range of human factors
often result in harm,
preventable harm. Healthcare is all about partnership, patients
and
healthcare professionals partnering to achieve desired outcomes.
"t is all
about trust and obligation.
Patient complaints may or may not be well#grounded, but what
really matters
is why, in the comple$ity of what we call modern healthcare,
clinician#patientcommunication has failed to satisfy the needs and
wants of individuals whore%uire understanding and care. &his is
particularly the case when sharing
uncomfortable or troubling news with patients and care givers.
'dmittedly
some patients, especially those with more limited capacity to
understand the
multifaceted issues relating to their illnesses, may harbor
unrealistice$pectations( and this may contribute to
miscommunication. )ut more often
than not, patients simply want to get better, and when
complaints arise it is
because of an imbalance between e$planation and
understanding.
*ell, 'retha certainly deserved respect, as we all do. !veryone
has inherentworth and dignity and in healthcare we can potentially
bring real value to our
patients +. every one of them
'ccessing %uality healthcare and e$ercising individual options
for care arebasic human rights. "nformation sharing, honesty and
openness are elements
of the informed consent process that facilitate the provision of
safe care and
serve to decrease litigation risks. &he failure to get this
process right leads to
misunderstandings, unrealistic e$pectations, potential adverse
outcomes andrisks of litigation. *e need to get this right
&here is a conundrum in patient safety incident
classification that arises
because of conflicting opinions regarding -ust what is or is not
an incident
&he primary reason for adverse event reporting is to
identify learningopportunities and preventive strategies so that
ultimately we can avoid, or
moderate the impact of, incidents. "ncidents have causes, often
preventable,
and these can be detected through structured processes of
analysis. Causes
