Reflection on medical errors: A thematic analysis
Medical Teacher, vol. 45, pp. 1404–1410
Abstract
BACKGROUND: As there is a need to prepare doctors to minimize errors, we wanted to determine how doctors go about reflecting upon their medical errors. METHODS: We conducted a thematic analysis of the published reflection reports of 12 Dutch doctors about the errors they had made. Three questions guided our analysis: What triggers doctors to become aware of their errors? What topics do they reflect upon to explain what happened? What lessons do doctors learn after reflecting on their error? RESULTS: We found that the triggers which made doctors aware of their errors were mostly death and/or a complication. This suggests that the trigger to recognize that something might be wrong came too late. The 12 doctors cited 20 topics' themes that explained the error and 16 lessons-learnt themes. The majority of the topics and lessons learnt were related more to the doctors' inner worlds (personal features) than to the outer world (environment). CONCLUSION: action and on discovering more about doctors' personal inner world to identify vulnerabilities.
Authors 3
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H. M. J. Raghoebar-Krieger corresponding
University Medical Center Groningen
Affiliation as printed
Primary- and Long-term Care, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Leiden University Medical Center
Affiliation as printed
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
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University Medical Center Groningen
Affiliation as printed
Primary- and Long-term Care, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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