In a world where defensive dentistry and perhaps medicine is being practiced extensively throughout the professions (or so it seems to me) clinicians have to be able to protect themselves and to show they have integrity, ethics and honesty associated with their practice.
Perhaps one strategy that I have adopted in the practice to show how we deal with complications is to write to patients following a complication. When significant complications occur for a patient (and they do happen in any aspect of healthcare) the letter to the patient following a discussion in surgery is a great way to demonstrate how you have approached the situation.
Complication letters that are written by me in the practice always contain the following:
- An explanation of the complication that has arisen.
- An attempted explanation as to why it might have happened.
- An apology that the patient has suffered a complication.
That is not to say that there is acceptance of blame for complications occurring which do happen in medicine but to apologise to the patient and to say “I’m sorry that you’ve suffered a complication” shows that you’re empathic and that you do in fact care about the patient outcomes. Should the treatment ever be called into question by anyone else then it’s clear that it has been explained to the patient what has happened and that you were sorry it had happened. An explanation in the letter as to how you might proceed from here is also an indication of how you approach your business.
Just a small thought for they guys out there who are dealing with proper healthcare at the coalface every single day where complications do actually occur (despite some peoples view of that)
Blog Post Number: 911
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