Diagnosis risks: playing the odds
A recent BBC health news headline trumpeted that doctors in Britain are “missing opportunities" to spot lung cancer at an early stage, meaning one in three people with the disease dies within 90 days of diagnosis.
Risk reduction: monitoring of chronic diseases
Regular readers of our risk blogs will be aware by now that missed or delayed diagnoses are associated with a large proportion of medical negligence claims in general practice, as evidenced in the analysis of MDDUS case files.
Reducing risk - making yourself available (in more ways than one)
Working on November’s video module – Human factor risks: team communication – had me reflecting on what being available and accessible to the healthcare team actually means for a clinician. Availability and accessibility can be fairly complex issues and a lack of clinician accessibility can influence risk.
Dealing with risk: island and remote practice
In a recent BMJ article (August 14) an A&E specialist worries about deskilling and loss of confidence in carrying out procedures that used to be routine, for instance in advanced airway management because anaesthetists are increasingly called in.