Medical error: concept, characterization and management

Abstract

The objective of this study is to better understand the tensions involved in the fear of making an error due to the harm and risk this would pose to those involved. This is a qualitative study based on the narratives of the experiences lived by ten acting physicians in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The concept and characterization of errors were discussed, as well as the fear of making an error, the near misses or error in itself, how to deal with errors and what to do to avoid them. The analysis indicates an excessive pressure in the medical profession for error-free practices, with a well-established physician-patient relationship to facilitate the management of medical errors. The error occurs but the lack of information and discussion often leads to its concealment due to fear of possible judgment by society or peers. The establishment of programs that encourage appropriate medical conduct in the event of an error requires coherent answers for humanization in Brazilian medical science.

Perfil de denúncias éticas contra médicos em um estado brasileiro, de 2001 a 2016

“…Além disso, a cultura da punição e do julgamento moral do erro imprime medo e reticência de apontamento deste entre os próprios profissionais (Alsafi et al, 2015;Lee et al, 2018;Health Quality Ontario, 2017), o que dialoga com a observação da menor taxa de denúncias partindo de outras fontes que não o paciente. Em última análise, a ausência de discussão das más práticas pode criar um ambiente protecionista e conivente com atitudes que precisam ser aprimoradas (Mendonça et al, 2019).…”

Supervisors’ perceptions on errors of nursing students in clinical clerkship: a qualitative research

“…Neither does it exist, for nursing students, learning didactics with errors or near errors, nor instruments that enable training institutions to create an environment that enhances learning with these events (3) . However, awareness of this problem is more present in the training of health professionals (4) with regard to the prevention and monitoring of medication errors (5) .…”