MedStar Health standardizes communication about adverse events

Editor's Note

Using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s online toolkit, Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR), Maryland-based MedStar Health has set up a standardized program for physicians to communicate with patients and family members about adverse events, according to the August 22 Kaiser Health News.

A team of physicians, called the “Go Team,” complete a 4-hour initial training program and then annual booster courses every 6 to 8 months to prepare them for adverse event conversations and to help other staff and physicians confront the problem. After that, Go Team members are on call 24/7 to provide guidance.

It was a fourth of July weekend but Sharon O' Brien, an intensive care physician, was not celebrating. A medical error earlier landed a patient in her ICU. The patient eventually died - and she had to decide what to tell the patient's family. Should she apologize?