Reflecting on the past week, I cannot stop thinking about the Lewis Blackman case and the movie “Bleeding Out.” I am touched by these cases and cannot believe the number of mistakes that occurred to allow these unfortunate events to occur. I learned so much this past week about open and honest communication and not being afraid to speak up if something does not look right. I also learned the value of caring for the caregiver so that when something unfortunate does occur, the caregiver is not consumed by guilt and fear.
Throughout out this past week, I became committed to helping promote the shift in culture that was presented to us by the various faculty. I am committed to promoting open and honest communication and making sure my peers in medical school learn and understand the topics that we discussed throughout the week. I believe that what was presented to us this past week truly showed the value of changing the culture and the amount of harm that can come from not doing so.
I was most touched by the movie “Bleeding Out.” This movie was an eerie truth of the medical profession and the lack of support a patient usually receives after a preventable medical error has occurred. I bring back many thoughts of how to prevent errors like this from occurring. I reflect on these thoughts and realize that the best thing that I can do as a medical student is to start small and plant the seeds in my fellow classmates.
For these reasons, I have made a commitment to help promote the value of patient safety and the value of having tough discussion like the ones that we had during this past week. I am making a pledge to present a safety moment in the beginning of my clinical skill development course once a week starting next semester. I hope to spark important conversation and instill motivation for my classmates to want to commit to the change in culture as well. I want to empower my classmates to continue these tough conversations and inspire them to reach out and help promote change.
This past week in Colorado will always remain in the forefront of my thought processes and I will continue to strive to make sure patients receive the best case possible. As Dr. Mayer said multiple times, in the medical profession we cannot strive to stop errors from occurring since that is human nature, however, we can implement culture and systems to catch these errors before they reach the patient and inflict irreversible damage. That is the direction I will take in the future as I build my professional medical career.