Residents, Responsibility, and Error: How Residents Learn to Navigate the Intersection

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Canadian postgraduate education mandates residents disclose and manage medical errors.
• The emotional and developmental aspects of residents navigating medical errors are underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how residents experience medical errors.
• To understand how residents learn to take responsibility for patients affected by medical errors.

Main Methods:

• Semistructured interviews with 19 residents across various specialties.
• Constructivist grounded theory with iterative data collection and analysis.
• Constant comparative analysis to identify emergent themes.

Main Results:

• Residents' conceptualization of error evolved throughout their training.
• A framework emerged for residents' self-care and patient care post-error.
• Key influences included role modeling, workplace challenges, and seeking emotional support.

Conclusions:

• Supporting residents clinically and emotionally after errors is crucial.
• Formal training and explicit discussions on error management are needed.
• Graded independence in error management should be fostered, not avoided.