Learning from medical errors

Dr. Charles Bosk, author of Forgive and Remember Reflections on Physicians and Mistakes, spoke this afternoon at the Medical College of Wisconsin 3rd annual Medical Humanities lecture. One of Dr. Bosk's points in the lecture was that an environment that pressures medical staff to make absolutely zero mistakes ultimately harms the staff because it fosters an environment where staff will lie and cover up mistakes and staff will not be able to learn from those mistakes and develop better medical judgment.

So how do we encourage medical excellence and preventing the preventable medical errors, while still fostering a learning environment where medical staff grow and learn from their mistakes?

physician dissatisfation

The Physicians' Foundation released the results of its survey on physician satisfaction, or rather, physician dissatisfaction.

You can find a summary from the Foundation here: http://www.physiciansfoundations.org/news/news_show.htm?doc_id=728872

And an article and comments from the Wall Street Journal Health blog here: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/18/doctors-feel-gloomy-financially-strapped/

Such high rates of dissatisfaction with the field raise questions about not only the future of the field and being able to retain enough physicians for society's health care needs, but it also raises questions about the quality of the relationship between physicians and patients today. If so many physicians are so dissatisfied with their jobs, does it make it that much harder for them to do their jobs well? Is it harder to forge a meaningful physician-patient relationship? Or is it the satisfaction of reaching out and helping patients that keeps physicians in medicine, despite all the paperwork and bureaucratic non-sense that takes up so many physicians' time?

A new ad campaign and a speedy response

I think what is perhaps most remarkable part of this story was the speed with which it became so huge.

Motrin released an ad on their web site about "baby-wearing," parents who wear their children in a sling or a wrap, and the ensuing back pain. However, some parents took offense to the insinuation that moms wear their babies because it is trendy and in particular, the lines that "Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience" and "Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom. And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why." The offended moms and dads took to their computers and responded swiftly and loudly through blogs, Twitter, and even responses on YouTube. The company reacted, though not quite as swiftly as the bloggers, by removing the ad from its web site. Of course, there are already magazine ads on the newsstands and the you can still find the video on YouTube:



I don't want to comment about whether the ad is offensive or not. I'm not a mom, I've never worn a baby sling, I have no opinion. What is fascinating is how quickly a group of people expressed their opinion, spread the message to others, who in turn expressed their opinions and in doing so created a voice loud enough to get a company to change course on a brand new advertising campaign.

You can find The New York Times article and comments here: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/moms-and-motrin/

What do you think?

This is cool!

So Google's foundation is using the power of its search engine to help in tracking flu data. Google is tracking and analyzing patterns of searches for flu symptoms to track where flu outbreaks may be occurring. It is thought that by tracking the number and location of people searching for terms such as flu symptoms, muscle aches, and chest congestion, they may be able to spot trends of flu outbreaks before health departments see such trends. Of course the data is still being analyzed and will be analyzed through the upcoming flu season, but if this does prove to be a useful tool in spotting flu outbreaks sooner, it would be a free source of important, emerging health information.

Check out the web site here: http://www.google.org/flutrends/

And the NY Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/technology/internet/12flu.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

clinical hypnosis

This article is from last Monday but I just came across it today. The New York Times printed an article last week about clinic hypnosis, not the stuff of stage shows, but the hypnosis that can help patients reach health goals. Hypnosis doesn't work for everyone. And hypnosis can't make you do things you don't want to do. But hypnosis can empower some people to achieve goals such as to quit smoking or get over a fear of flying.

You can find the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/health/04brody.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

positive reinforcement in medical education

Dr. Pauline Chen writes in her column in today's New York Times about positive reinforcement in medical education. tI's easy for Dr. Chen and any other doctor to come up with stories of abuse and yelling and negative reinforcement directed at medical students and residents by attending physicians. Is the approach detrimental? Is it necessary? Medicals students are learning life and death procedures. And if someone is making a potentially deadly mistake, it certainly needs to be corrected immediately. But is there a better way correct mistakes and teach students along the way?

You can find the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/health/chen11-06.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

And the discussion here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/no-praise-for-doctors-in-training/

the benefits of voting

I guess it's no surprise, given the historical nature of today's presidential election, that all stories seem to point to elections and voting. The New York Times included an interesting article about research on the psychology and psychological benefits of voting.

Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/health/research/04mind.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Voting behavior is extremely difficult to predict. But there does seem to be some psychological benefit to making your voice heard.

So if you haven't done so, go vote.