Sept. 26--CHEYENNE -- A research scholar recently told employees at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center that hospitals should tell patients when workers make mistakes.
Nancy Berlinger of The Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., also said that medical professionals should apologize to patients and families if harm occurs. They also should figure out ways to prevent it from happening again.
The Hastings Center is an independent and nonprofit bioethics research institute.
CRMC has such a disclosure policy, said Roxanne Gorman, its risk manager.
The hospital tells patients and their families "anytime there is an error or an occurrence that impacts the patient or their care or their courses of care," Gorman said.
The employee who tells the patient can range from a doctor and nurse to an administrator, depending on the seriousness of the mistake.
Employees tell the patient any possible side effects of the mistake, how the patient will be monitored and what will be done to make sure it won't happen again.
"We developed a written policy in 2006. But it has been our procedure for much longer than that," Gorman said.
Employees and doctors can talk to patients and their families and tell them they are sorry if a mistake occurs, said Vikki Choate, CRMC's vice president of performance improvement and chief quality officer.
CRMC also has an employee assistance program to help workers who have a hard time dealing with the mistake, Choate said.
A disciplinary process is in place, too, Choate said.
In many cases, at hospitals throughout the country, mistakes occur because of flawed steps in the system, Choate said. The local hospital wants to fix such problems, she added.
"We have a moral obligation. We take it pretty seriously," Choate said.
Leaders from various parts of the hospital meet daily to discuss safety concerns that occurred over the last 24 hours, Choate said.
CRMC also has an anonymous incident reporting system for employees.
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