The modern-day mindset in healthcare is constantly evolving to improve efficiency and communication. Such a change in attitudes towards, for example, a medical error is attributed to those who hope to decrease the number of fatal mistakes by addressing the prevailing and ultimately harmful culture of secrecy. Acknowledging this shift away from a stance that denies faults and defends the practitioner becomes an acute problem for all healthcare professionals.
Bureaucratic malaise is omnipresent throughout healthcare institutions. This is the precise reason behind errors ultimately “caused by faulty systems” rather than ill-wishing staff. In a familiar healthcare setting, attitudes are not changing despite policies focused on transparency. However, faulty management remains a critical issue. Factors, such as “the growing complexity of science and technology, the increase in chronic conditions, a poorly organized delivery system, and constraints on exploiting the revolution in information technology,” contribute to advancing transgressions. For the most part, the setting utilizes a “deny and defend” strategy, demonstrating a lack of both bottom-up and top-down initiatives to pursue change. This attitude became evident when the administration did not criticize particular staff members’ covert actions while praising others for bringing attention to them. However, now may be the best time to act against this culture that intermixes denial with communication. Communication is limited, as the institution failed to notify family members of a particular risk to the patient, which resulted in complications that were the fault of healthcare professionals. Since neither side takes a definitive stance on the disclosure of medical errors, it is crucial for all healthcare professionals to educate themselves on patient-oriented practices.
- Errors of Treating Patients in Medical Institutions
- Patient Threats of Medical and Nursing Errors
- Medical Workers Errors: Case Study
- Preventing Medical Errors
- Medical Errors Prevention in the Nursing Practice
- Medical Errors, Economic Effect and Patient Safety
- Medical Errors and Effects on Hospitalized Children
- Medical Errors Minimization for Patient Safety