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How to reduce medical errors in your practice. (Advice from Past President of AMA).
HOUSTON -- Many physicians are trained to believe that somehow they should become perfectionists and never make mistakes during their career, Dr. Nancy Dickey said at the annual meeting of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
In reality, "most of us who look back on our careers realize that medicine is a human endeavor and, in fact, people do make mistakes," said Dr. Dickey, a family physician who is the immediate past president of the American Medical Association.
"If there are things that we can do in our offices, our practice, and our hospitals that would prevent patients from being the victims of a mistake, then we ought to make changes to reduce or eliminate preventable errors," she added.
Dr. Dickey offered these suggestions for reducing the potential risk of medical errors in your practice:
* Mark all allergies to medications in the patient's chart. Use color or capital letters in several places on the chart so that you don't miss this information.
* Empower your patients, nurses, and other staff to identify problems and intervene. If you have a captain-of-the-ship mentality, "some of your staff and some of your patients might be fearful of challenging you when you give them a message--when you tell them what prescription you're going write or what treatment you're going to suggest first," said Dr. Dickey, who practices in Bryan, Tex. "Be approachable."
* Make sure your prescriptions are legible. Consider generating prescriptions on the computer. Failing that, print the prescription clearly in pen.
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