Why are health professionals not listening to the concern of the patient? A major theme from yesterday was advancing communication to prevent harm and address harm. We often take for granted that we have the ability to use effective communication. We started the day watching a video about leadership, which I thought was pretty powerful. I had not thought much about the following as I have thought about leadership styles. To lead, you have to be on the level of the follower or there will not be a movement. We continued on to watch the Lewis Blackman story. Diagnostic errors ignited my passion for patient safety when my mother in law passed away from a missed pulmonary embolism. As I continue in my medical journey, I want to always remember the phrase “What is the worse it can be?” to avoid premature closure and conformational bias. From the video, Helen stated it was in the hospital that we could not get the medical attention Lewis needed. That is truly heartbreaking, and I strive to be apart of changing hospital culture so patients will not have to feel that way. As an education coordinator for my school’s IHI chapter, I hope to host seminars on mindfulness of the patient that encourages budding physicians to reflect and reexamine when involved in decision making. We have to overcome labels and bad culture to think outside of the box. In our pre-reading, a line that stood out to me was “it is not about prevention, it is about being able to catch what is wrong.” This is a powerful tool that needs to be more utilized. I like the SBAR-Q system where you ask questions at the end in order to realign your assessment and actions. If we take the 90 seconds to listen and have open & honest communication, I believe we will see a decrease in medical errors.
