Freitag, 12. April 2019

Second victim

Elsewhere in this week’s journal, Melissa Clarkson and colleagues make a strong case for abandoning the term “second victim” when it refers to doctors involved in medical error (doi:10.1136/bmj.l1233), as they find that it promotes a mindset that is incompatible with patient safety and accountability. They say that many physicians are also uncomfortable with the term.
“There is a seductiveness to labelling yourself as a victim,” argue the authors. “Victims bear no responsibility for causing the injurious event and no accountability for addressing it . . . We know who the actual victims of medical errors are because we arranged their funerals and buried them.”
Follow BMJ Editor Fiona Godlee on Twitter @fgodlee and the BMJ @bmj_latest

Samstag, 6. April 2019

Burnout bei Chirurgen

Job stressors faced by surgeons in Germany are no longer acceptable

Undiagnosed burnout and depression is widespread within surgical communities in developed countries. [1, 2] Adequate working conditions—including appropriate workload, satisfactory workplace organisation, and sufficient illness recovery opportunity—are crucial to ensuring the delivery of high quality care, but job stressors, insufficient resource, and the deteriorating mental health of surgeons in Germany are still going unnoticed. [3] Such adverse workplace conditions are not only major risk factors for individual health impairment, but also contribute to error rates and medical malpractice; the situation is no longer acceptable.