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Do's and Don'ts After an Adverse Event
Do:
- Remain calm; stabilize the patient; provide an example for your staff.
- Talk to your staff; what facts can be ascertained? What is still unknown?
- Explain the facts to the patient/family, in plain, understandable language.
- Explain the consequences; advise the patient/family what they need to do next.
- Empathize; be patient; spend some extra time with the patient/family.
- Acknowledge the shock, hurt and worry they must feel, and your own concern.
- Provide a telephone/pager number, or how and where you can be reached, later.
- Notify the CAP Hotline if the adverse event is severe and unexpected.
Don't:
- Magnify the crisis by losing control yourself; this is no time for self-recrimination.
- Avoid any direct contact with patient/family so you won’t have to explain.
- Act surprised or befuddled by the complication or adverse outcome.
- Lapse into technical or scientific jargon, which the patient/family will not understand.
- Blame others, or attempt to shift responsibility to anyone other than yourself.
- Speculate as to who or what caused or contributed to the adverse outcome.
To Express Your Concern, You Might Say:
- “I feel awful about what happened, but without a doubt, everyone did their best.”
- “I know that you’re scared, and probably you’re angry. That’s perfectly natural.”
- “I wish I could change what happened; some things are taken out of our hands.”
- “I can imagine how badly you must feel; I have suffered a similar loss, myself.”
- “Before surgery, we talked about the possibility of this complication; now that it has happened, let me explain what we plan to do.”
Things You Probably Should Not Say:
- “I blame myself [or someone else] for what happened; if only I [someone else] had done things differently.”
- “Nothing like this has ever happened to one of my patients before; I just cannot explain it.”
- “Of course I’m sorry that this happened; but you have no right to blame me.”
- “We knew this was a risky procedure, but I never expected anything like this to happen.”
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