4 ms·
Awareness of fallibility is an important driver of reliability. I met my surgeon on a gurney just before a shoulder operation, and joked with him that we had
by chernevik 11y ago
Awareness of fallibility is an important driver of reliability.
I met my surgeon on a gurney just before a shoulder operation, and joked with him that we had considered writing "not this one" on the good shoulder. He smiled, and then handed my then-wife a pen, saying "Write that. Things like that happen all the time." And I felt that much more confident in him, because I think people who know they can do something stupid are so much less likely to actually do them.
- RachelF 11y agoIndeed - and an unawareness of fallibility or medical arrogance is a huge warning sign. Many in the medical fraternity bury their mistakes, not admit to them.
- 6d0debc071 11y agoMany people in a lot of fields no longer admit their mistakes. I think a lot of the problem is that if you admit to a mistake you often become legally liable, to a not inconsiderable sum. So, the easiest thing's to pretend that the mistake never happened. It's better for the individual who makes the mistake, for all that it's worse for everyone else.
- bentcorner 11y agoIt appears to me that it would be useful to provide a platform to share mistakes in an anonymous fashion so that others can learn from them.
- DanBC 11y agoHope the "not" doesn't get smudged off.
- mrestko 11y agoLife imitates art: https://youtu.be/CmayBDhHD54?t=8s https://youtu.be/CmayBDhHD54?t=8s
- glomph 11y agoI don't know how widespread this is, but when I went to get surgery on my foot (NHS in the UK) they literally drew an arrow on my leg with a marker pen to avoid operating on the wrong foot haha.
- 51Cards 11y agoI had surgery to have a tumor removed from my back earlier this year and right before the surgeon drew arrows on my back and then initialed it. "No one goes into the operating room without my initials" Made me feel more confident.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- jeffasinger 11y agoI recently had shoulder surgery. One of the first steps the day of was the surgeon coming in, talking to me, and initialing the shoulder he was to operate on. Every new person I met along the way asked me what shoulder it was, and then wanted to see the initials before continuing.
- celticninja 11y agomy dad was a nurse his whole career, worked in a variety of areas including surgery. After his returement he went in for surgery and wrote things like that on his body so they didnt fuck it up