Getting doctors involved is critical for ensuring the success of patient safety initiatives. However, for most doctors, this is still a taboo topic. The subject is threatening, because it is focused on preventing errors, and for a doctor, patient errors are synonymous with negligence and lawsuits for malpractice, a topic they’d rather not dwell on. Also, because physicians are so used to having to taking complete personal responsibility for all their actions, that they find that a solution based on a system improvement approach is baffling.
The doctors’ objections Any time hospital management wants to institute a change, there will always be resistance, and this will often come from the senior doctors. Standard objections include the following: I haven’t ever had a problem so far, so why do I have to change my practice? Why are you wasting our time? How can I take responsibility for…
