We all make mistakes sometimes; it is an unavoidable part of human nature and veterinary practice. Mistakes can range from minor issues with record keeping to major errors in patient care resulting in the death of a pet. While it is impossible to completely eliminate all of these, having a culture of honesty in your practice and protocols in place to deal with errors and omissions can help minimize the damage done and help prevent re occurrences in the future.
The first step in this is to first admit that no one is perfect and that mistakes will happen. Burying your head in the sand helps no one and prevents you from learning from the experience. As a manager, it is important to be open and honest with yourself and your team about the potential for errors in your practice. You should discuss ahead of time, with the practice owner and key management staff, how both staff and doctor errors will be dealt with. While some of these conversations may be uncomfortable, it is far easier to discuss a hypothetical situation in the future than a real situation in the present. We all hear stories at conferences and from our colleagues of mistakes made at other practices. When these come up, try to take some time with your management team to ask “What if this had happened at our hospital? How would we have dealt with the situation?” These discussions should be on-going to be sure everyone is on the same page. From these discussions an errors and omissions policy for the practice should emerge and be implemented.
The next step is to communicate your policy to your staff. This should start with new employee training and staff meeting discussions. During orientation, the potential for mistakes should be discussed and new employees should be instructed on what to do if they make a mistake or observe a coworker’s error. Specifically, they should be instructed on whom to notify. Depending on your hospital, this may be their supervisor, the attending doctor, or the practice owner. It should be stressed to employees that speed is of the essence. The sooner someone comes forward about a mistake, the sooner you can deal with the issue and potentially prevent the situation from becoming worse. Existing staff members should periodically be reminded about of the policy at regular staff meetings.
Ideally, employees who come forth quickly when an honest mistake is made and make every effort to remedy the situation should not be disciplined for the mistake. This will increase the chances staff will admit to mistakes that are made and improve the chances that the practice will be able to discuss the problem openly and prevent similar mistakes in the future. When appropriate, errors should be discussed openly at staff meetings with the emphasis on how the situation can be prevented in the future rather than on placing blame.