Genesis of medical accidents
Patient safety is of prime concern in day-to-day practice. But despite, all precautions, medical accidents do occur. Medical accident is an unforeseen or an unintended occurrence.
Most medical accidents are preventable. Hence, it is important for us to analyse why medical accidents occur.
Several factors contribute to medical accidents. Fatigue, sleep deprivation, poor communication, inadequate preoperative planning are some common reasons for medical accidents.
Distraction is another very important factor in medical accidents. Smart phones are a major source of distraction for the operating team in the OTs including the anesthetists or in critical care areas. Doctors may talk and attend to their mobile phones during a surgery and may communicate through a nurse or a junior who works as a bridge between the surgeon and the caller or may check or send e-mails or text messages. Mobile phone distractions adversely affect the performance of the entire team with greater likelihood of accidents that otherwise would not occur. E.g. an accidental injury to the intestine during an appendicectomy. Hands-free phone can be as distracting as talking on a hand-held mobile phone.
The role of the navigator or the person who sits in the front passenger seat of a car can be an apt analogy here. It is a rule that he or she should not sleep or talk on the phone but stay alert. Besides navigation, he has to stay awake with the driver, especially on long drives, and also help the driver stay awake. Majority of car accidents are caused by human errors and are a result of distracted driving.
It is important to concentrate on the task at hand and not let distractions take away the focus and cloud one’s judgement.
Dr KK Aggarwal
National President IMA & HCFI
Recipient of Padma Shri, Dr BC Roy National Award, Vishwa Hindi Samman, National Science Communication Award & FICCI Health Care Personality of the Year Award
Vice President Confederation of Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)
Past Honorary Secretary General IMA
Past Senior National Vice President IMA
President Heart Care Foundation of India
Gold Medallist Nagpur University
Limca Book of Record Holder in CPR 10
Honorary Professor of Bioethics SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre
Sr. Consultant Medicine & Cardiology, Dean Board of Medical Education, Moolchand
Editor in Chief IJCP Group of Publications & eMedinewS
Member Ethics Committee Medical Council of India (2013-14)
Chairman Ethics Committee Delhi Medical Council (2009-15)
Elected Member Delhi Medical Council (2004-2009)
Chairman IMSA Delhi Chapter (March 10- March 13)
Director IMA AKN Sinha Institute (08-09)
Finance Secretary IMA (07-08)
Chairman IMAAMS (06-07)
President Delhi Medical Association (05-06)
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