New Resource Gives General Practice Teams Support In Managing Human Errors, Royal Australian College Of General Practitioners

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 03 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is launching the new education and training module 'Regaining trust after an adverse event. An education module on managing adverse events in general practice' designed to support general practice teams in managing adverse events. The module will be launched on Saturday, 4 October during the Wonca Asia Pacific Regional Conference/ RACGP Annual Scientific Convention 2008 in Melbourne.

This new six-hour training module has been funded by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and is available through the RACGP website at http://www.racgp.org.au/safety.

"Even though human errors that result in harm to a patient while receiving health care are rare, unfortunately it can happen that something goes wrong: giving an incorrect vaccination, failing to follow-up a test result or missing a diagnosis are all examples of situations where things just did not go to plan," said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President and GP in Northern NSW.

"We know that it is natural for a GP or a practice team member to feel apprehensive and anxious if something goes wrong and it makes them question their clinical skills, worry about the medico-legal consequences or feel concerned about how a patient may react," said Dr Mitchell.

"What to say and do when a patient has been harmed is a common challenge for many GPs and staff members and this new educational module aims to help the whole practice team on how to communicate and manage an adverse event in general practice," said Dr Genevieve Hopkins, member of the RACGP National Standing Committee GP Advocacy and Support and, GP consultant to the project.

"While it can be challenging to acknowledge mistakes, especially to peers, improvements in patient safety require a whole-of-practice approach. A safe practice is where all members of the team confidently share their ideas, support one another, and meaningful contribute to quality improvement activities.

"Patients who are harmed often experience the incident as a violation of trust, and lose confidence in their GP and the practice. In this circumstance discussing what happened does not exist as an isolated event, but as part of an ongoing dialogue between the patient and members of the practice team. It may take several, well-timed conversations before trust is regained and shared values are recreated," said Dr Hopkins.

The RACGP would like to thank the members of the reference group (comprised of national key stakeholders) and the individual GPs and practice staff members who generously contributed their time and knowledge to this project.

A poster entitled 'Regaining trust after an adverse event - a series of well-timed conversations' is available from the RACGP publications department.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP has the largest general practitioner membership of any medical organisation in Australia and represents the majority of Australia's general practitioners.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners