Today was definitely an eye opening experience for a rising M2. Its something we can all imagine, yet something that we put in the back of our minds… something that were never going to do. Making a life threatening mistake is something that is possible everyday as a resident or attending. I think we believe as medical students that its never going to happen to us, yet statistics show that its certainly possible.
Hellen’s story about Lewis is such a wakeup call for us that are soon to be Interns and junior residents. The loss of her son was almost purely due to the fear and/or over confidence experienced by those young physicians. I think its something that nobody wants to think about, but something that we all need to acknowledge before we start seeing patients. Honestly thats my biggest reason for attending this conference… to hear those horror stories, to learn from my peers mistakes, to try to come up with some way to avoid these mistakes myself. I think thats the main message from Lewis’s story.. and it was expressed in the film as well… that if we don’t learn from our mistakes, were doomed to fail over and over again. I hope that from hearing and reflecting on the mistakes of my peers, I may better be suited to avoid those similar scenarios in my future.