When I was 20 I had surgery on my foot, before the surgery I
remember the doctor coming into the room to see me. We went over
the basics of the surgery and making sure I was prepared for after
the surgery. The last thing he did before he left was to sign his name
with a permanent marker over where he was going to be cutting. I
was very surprised by this, because it did not seem sanitary to me
which I voiced. He told me that it would be fine because the area
would be cleaned, but that in order to avoid mistakes he signed
where all his surgeries were going to be preformed. I laughed, but he
told me that he found a system that worked for him and it kept his
accidents down whereas some colleagues had other systems that
were potentially not as failproof as what worked for him. Since then,
before any surgery I have had I have asked the surgeon what they
will do to prevent accidents. It is a valid question, it is my body on
the line after all.
Shame is built into mistakes that are made, especially severe and
deadly accidents. A hunting accident will leave a person guilty for
years, as will stupid mistakes made as a teenager. The medical
profession is not immune to mistakes or the shame that goes with
them (Hay-David et al., 2020). Normalizing feeling the shame would
likely go a long way in encouraging medical professionals to share
and self report about their mistakes. A support system outside of a
displinary action or learning committee would also be helpful. What I
am most interested in seeing is how COVID has affected medical
mistakes (Hay-David et al., 2020). In fact, even preparing for an
unknown future pandemic has ways to keep mistakes from
happening. Practicing protocol is a way to make the actions intuitive
to a person and will cause someone to second guess themselves less
(Hay-David et al., 2020). Following others in how they handle the
pandemic, instead of trying to find a unique path. This is not the time
to invent new tests or rules. Self-care will help to prevent burnout
and will also help to address any shame that is felt from a mistake if
made (Hay-David et al., 2020). It will be interesting to see the rates
and what caused the mistakes, I hope it gives new ideas and
solutions for preventing mistakes during a "normal" time.
Hay-David, A. G. C., Herron, J. B. T., Gilling, P., Miller, A., & Brennan,
P. A. (2020). Reducing medical error during a pandemic. British
