July 23rd, 2007

"Increase Stress in Doctors from Medical Mistakes"

A recent study reported that 90 percent of the 3,000 doctors surveyed admitted having made a medical error or narrowly missed making such an error. A "near miss," a minor medical error, or a serious error (i.e., an error resulting in permanent or potentially life-threatening harm) was acknowledged by 2,909 of the 3,171 doctors who answered a questionnaire. The stress incurred by doctors when they make medical mistakes has not been addressed, according to the study's authors.

Thousands of Deaths Due to Medical Mistakes

The Seattle-, St. Louis-, and Canada-based physicians were surveyed by The Joint Commission, a hospital regulatory group working to reduce the rate of medical errors in the U.S. The August edition of The Joint Commission's Journal on Quality and Patient Safety gave the complete study, which also cited an earlier estimate that at least 44,000 patients die in the U.S. each year because of medical mistakes.

The study's lead author, Washington University psychologist Amy Waterman, stated that job stress following medical mistakes could make some physicians prone to depression and possibly prone to additional mistakes. Although most of the doctors surveyed said that they would like to have counseling or some type of help after making an error on the job, few reported having any such resources at hand.

Mistake-Related Stress Troubles Physicians

Of the doctors who were involved in medical errors, 44 percent admitted that after making the mistake they became less confident in their ability to do their job as a doctor. The physicians who were involved in serious errors reported increased job-related stress, but only 10 percent of the doctors surveyed said that the hospitals where they worked offered them adequate resources for handling medical error-related stress.

Doctors have traditionally been trained to keep quiet about any mistakes that are made in medical care, and their reputation as "god-like" medical experts has hindered the open reporting environment that many healthcare facilities are trying to implement. As Dr. David Jaimovich, chief medical officer of a Joint Commission affiliate office noted, doctors who have made a mistake in patient care are "supposed to bite their lip, suck it up and keep going."

Anxiety, Trouble Sleeping, Less Job Satisfaction

Of the surveyed doctors who were involved in mistakes, 61 percent reported feeling increased anxiety about their potential for future mistakes, 42 percent experienced problems sleeping, and 42 percent described a loss in job satisfaction.

(Source: MSNBC online)

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