An accident waiting to happen? A case for medical education

Item 18 of the GMC's (1997) Duties of a Doctor advises new doctors: "You must protect patients when you believe that a colleague's performance or health is a threat to them". Recent incidents have highlighted serious failures in standards of care, particularly where clinical mistakes have been made and subsequently covered up. Through the medium of a short case study, this article illustrates how the patterns of behaviour that lead to such failures and cover-ups may have their roots in the early stages of medical education.We argue that a more effective system of education and support for medical students and junior doctors will engender a culture in which mistakes can be admitted and rectified immediately. This will enable incidents to be used actively as learning experiences, shaping good clinical practice for the future. The emerging documentation from the GMC and others indicates a commitment to planning and monitoring of educational activity, within the context of clinical goverance.We hope that this will lead to an educational environment in which the quality of both training and service delivery may be assured.