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Anyone in the world Admitting you're not perfect!
This morning I had an informal conversation with a consultant colleague. We were talking about the importance of admitting you don't know something or admitting you have made a mistake.
The fact is that no one knows everything and no one never makes mistakes! But this doesn't make it any easier to sit down and admit to your colleagues you don't know something that you feel you should know. Even harder is it to sit down with a family or patient and say you made a mistake. This is what we should be doing and we don't do it enough. Although the vast majority of us know when we don't know something or have made a mistake, it is often much easier to simply keep quiet!
One of the reasons I feel this may be the case is because of the blame culture we lead. While whistle-blowing is important, it should be a positive step for both the doctor and his or her patients. We must not jump on the band wagon of blame but seek to support all involved in order to improve care and future reporting. Unfortunately in medicolegal cases someone nearly always bears the brunt but if you look into it most cases go to court because of a failure in communication. If complaints and mistakes are dealt with openly and swiftly it is much less likely to fall into the hands of the lawyers. So, once again, admitting fault and being honest is by far the best option, even if it is difficult.
[ Modified: Friday, 5 February 2010, 12:37 AM ] | 
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