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''Please do not yet comment on this page. These are very rough ideas to consider for a 'Physician's perspective' for either the Preventable medical errors or Medical error articles.''

The frequency of mistakes
Mistakes are common and their frequency is difficult to measure. About 1% of hospital admissions have an adverse event due to negligence. However, mistakes are actually much more common as these studies only identify mistakes that lead to measurable adverse events occurring soon after the error. Independent review of doctors' treatment plans suggest that 14% of admissions can have improved decision making; many of the benefit would have delayed manifestations. Even this number may be an underestimate. One study suggests that in the United States adults only receive 55% of recommended care while at the same time a second study found that 30% of care in the United States may be unnecessary. For example, if a doctor fails to order a mammogram that is past due, this mistake will not show up in the first study because no adverse event occurred during the short follow up of the study, the mistake would also not show up in the second study because only the principle treatment plans were critiqued, but the mistake would be recorded in the third study. If a doctor recommends a unnecessary treatment or test it may not show in any of the studies.

The emotional burden on the doctor from making a mistake
Case reports review the strongly negative emotional impact of mistakes on the doctors who commit them. In one example, the physician failed to recommend that his patient (who was a friend) travel a long way for an expensive test for an unlikely diagnosis. This led to the physician inadvertently doing a D&C on a live fetus that the family very much wanted. In an anonymous survey and interview of 11 internists, 10 reported significant discomfort with memories of mistakes.

Coping with mistakes
Essays and studies have described physician coping mechanisms.

Mistakes are not isolated events
Adverse outcomes from errors usually do not happen because of an isolated errors. There may be several breakdowns in processes to allow an adverse outcome. In addition, errors are more common when other demands compete for a physician's attention. However, placing too much blame on the system may not be constructive.

Placing the practice of medicine in perspective
Essayists imply that the potential to make mistakes is part of what makes being a physician rewarding and without this potential the job would be lesser:
 * "Everybody dies, you and all of your patients. All relationships end. Would you want it any other way?...Don't take it personally"
 * "... if I left medicine, I would mourn its loss as I've mourned the passage of my poetry. On a daily basis, it is both a privilege and a joy to have the trust of patients and their families and the camaraderie of peers. There is no challenge to make your blood race like that of a difficult case, no mind game as rigorous as the challenging differential diagnosis, and though the stakes are high, so are the rewards."

Essayists comment on the need for perspective in medicine:
 * "I eat three small meals a day, exercise, and meditate. I keep away from alcohol."
 * Appreciation of life outside of medicine

Disclosing mistakes
Forgiveness, which is a part of many religions, may be important in coping with medical mistakes.

Disclosure to oneself
Inability to forgive oneself may create a cycle of distress and increased likelihood of a future error.

However, "...those who coped by accepting responsibility were more likely to make constructive changes in practice, but to experience more emotional distress." It may be helpful to consider the much larger number of patients who are not exposed to mistakes and are helped. by medical care.

Disclosure to patients
Patients are reported to want "information about what happened, why the error happened, how the error's consequences will be mitigated, and how recurrences will be prevented." Detailed suggestions on how to disclose are available.

The American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs states in its ethics code:
 * "Situations occasionally occur in which a patient suffers significant medical complications that may have resulted from the physician's mistake or judgment. In these situations, the physician is ethically required to inform the patient of all facts necessary to ensure understanding of what has occurred. Concern regarding legal liability which might result following truthful disclosure should not affect the physician's honesty with a patient."

From the American College of Physicians Ethics Manual :
 * “In addition, physicians should disclose to patients information about procedural or judgment errors made in the course of care if such information is material to the patient's well-being. Errors do not necessarily constitute improper, negligent, or unethical behavior, but failure to disclose them may.”

However, "there appears to be a gap between physicians' attitudes and practices regarding error disclosure. Willingness to disclose errors was associated with higher training level and a variety of patient-centered attitudes, and it was not lessened by previous exposure to malpractice litigation". Hospital administrators may share these concerns.

Consequently, in the United States, many states have enacted laws excluding expressions of sympathy after accidents as proof of liability; however, "excluding from admissibility in court proceedings apologetic expressions of sympathy but not fault-admitting apologies after accidents"

Disclosure may actually reduce malpractice payments.

Disclosure to non-physicians
In a study of physicians who reported having made a mistake, disclosing to non-physicians sources of support may reduce stress more than disclosing to physician colleagues. This may be due to the physicians in the same study, when presented with a hypothetical scenario of a mistake made by another colleague, only 32% physicians would have unconditionally offered support. It is possible that greater benefit occurs when spouses are physicians.

Disclosure to other physicians
Discussing mistakes with other doctors is beneficial. However, doctors may be less forgiving of each other. The reason is not clear, but one essayist has admonished, "Don't Take Too Much Joy in the Mistakes of Other Doctors."

Disclosure to the physician's institution
Disclosure of errors, especially 'near misses' may be effective in reduce subsequent errors in institutions that are capable of reviewing near misses. However, doctors report that institutions may not be supportive of the doctor.

Preventing mistakes at the level of the individual doctor
Many mistakes are actually induced by system problems such as unnecessary distractions. However, some factors are under the physician's control:
 * Don't guess when you are not sure. Adverse effects have been shown when the doctor has insufficient access to patient related data and to diagnostic decision aids (acitipi, psi, dvt/pe) and to general medical knowledge . Look it up or get a second opinion (even if not expert - see radiology; double coding at NASA)
 * When you are very busy . Many of these are actually system design mistakes Having adequate time is associated with better outcomes
 * Complicated patients
 * Fatigue (look at HO literature on long shifts
 * You are distracted by competing priorities, perhaps non-work related
 * You are providing informal consultation without adequate documentation of your work or resources
 * You are treating family or friends.
 * You are reluctant to recommend a treatment because it is inconvenient for the patient (for example they have to travel or take time off of work) or members of the health care system (for example, they have to come to the hospital over the weekend)
 * working at night
 * Bedside rationing – avoid this
 * You have a negative relationship patient.
 * Burnout "Burnout was common among resident physicians and was associated with self-reported suboptimal patient care practices."
 * Meta-cognition and voltech solution