“I made a mistake!”: A narrative analysis of experienced physicians' stories of preventable error

Abstract

Rationale, aims, and objectives The complexity of healthcare systems makes errors unavoidable. To strengthen the dialogue around how physicians experience and share medical errors, the objective of this study was to understand how generalist physicians make meaning of and grow from their medical errors. Methods This study used a narrative inquiry approach to conduct and analyse in‐depth interviews from 26 physicians from the generalist specialties of emergency, internal, and family medicine. We gathered stories via individual interview, analysed them for key components, and rewrote a “meta‐story” in a chronological sequence. We conceptualized the findings into a metaphor to draw similarities, learn from, and apply new principles from other fields of practice. Results Through analysis we interpreted the story of a physician who is required to make numerous decisions in a short period of time in different clinical environments among the patient's family and whilst abiding by existing rules and regulations. Through sharing stories of success and failure, the clinical supervisor can help optimize the physician's emotional growth and professional development. Similarly, through sharing and learning from stories, colleagues and trainees can also contribute to the growth of the protagonist's character and the development of clinic, hospital, and healthcare system. Conclusion We draw parallels between the clinical setting and a generalist physician's experiences of a medical error with the environment and practices within professional sports. Using this comparison, we discuss the potential for meaningful coaching in medical education.

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“…In other words, the LMCS only looks at the overall perception of the organization toward mistake learning and less at the leader and colleagues with whom employees often interact. This other future research direction for the LMCS would investigate improvements to the understanding of the social aspect of mistake learning ( Kandasamy et al, 2021 ).…”

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“…6 Ultimately sharing and learning from stories, colleagues and trainees can also contribute to the growth of the mentee's character and the development of clinic, hospital, and healthcare systems. 7 The main challenge post pandemic has been to overcome the pandemic fatigue due to information overload both written and through social media. The risk for essential knowledge and pearls of wisdom getting drowned in the surging floods of noisy information is real.…”

“… 6 Ultimately sharing and learning from stories, colleagues and trainees can also contribute to the growth of the mentee’s character and the development of clinic, hospital, and healthcare systems. 7 …”