Disclosing medical errors: how do we prepare our students?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Communication Skills

Background:

• Medical errors are common despite safety initiatives, necessitating ethical disclosure to maintain trust.
• Effective error disclosure training is vital but often lacking in undergraduate medical programs.
• South African undergraduate medical education has limited data on error disclosure training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine undergraduate medical training in error disclosure within the South African context.
• To identify gaps in current error disclosure teaching and practice.
• To formulate a strategy for improving error disclosure education and patient care.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on medical error disclosure training.
• Descriptive, cross-sectional study of fourth- and fifth-year medical students.
• Anonymous questionnaires with quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Main Results:

• High rates of infrequent teaching in medical error disclosure reported by students (73.9% of fourth-years, 60.4% of fifth-years).
• Students reported low confidence, with many considering themselves novices or average in error disclosure.
• Senior doctors infrequently modeled patient-centered care, impacting student learning.

Conclusions:

• A significant need exists for increased experiential training in medical error disclosure for undergraduates.
• Medical educators should leverage errors as learning opportunities.
• Modeling patient-centered care and error disclosure in clinical settings is essential.