The incident that happened to Jessica, unfortunately, is not as rare as many believe. Nowadays, medical errors are the most common medical care defect. A medical error is a defect in the provision of medical care associated with the improper actions of medical personnel, characterized by conscientious delusion in the absence of signs of a willful or reckless crime. However, doctors need to report the medical error, taking cultural, social, and psychological factors into account.
When communicating to Jessica’s family that there was a medical error, the healthcare personnel could face cultural and social barriers. Jessica’s family came from Mexico with the sole purpose of curing their daughter. The situation was aggravated by the fact that they lived illegally on the territory of the country. Their native Spanish language, and misunderstanding and ignorance of English, played an essential role in creating communication between medical staff and parents as 90% of errors in healthcare is communication (Adubato, 2004). In Jessica’s already difficult situation, her parents could not properly communicate with the doctors, which led to misunderstandings on both sides. This could be one of the reasons for the error: an interpreter was not provided to the hospital, a communication barrier was created, and the doctors could not get a clear answer from the parents.
In consequence of this, Jessica’s mother raised the problems of communication in the medical field before the public, which can lead to fatal consequences. To avoid such situations and better understand the daughter’s health, doctors should better explain to parents that any medical procedure has risks (Burns et al., 2012). Instead of hiding the error from parents, doctors should have reported it immediately. In that case, Jessica’s parents might have been more understanding about the mistake.
To prevent such cases, it is necessary to improve the organization of communication networks. One such network, known as the wheel, is the central wheel that sends information about and from professionals. This strategy would be very effective in preventing misunderstandings at different levels between different parties, as well as allowing data to be centralized. Therefore, it is better to use a central coordinator who keeps track of all the information for such situations.
Jessica’s situation with the wrong blood group was due to a misunderstanding between the medical team and doctors; a plan had to be developed to check and double-check everything before the procedure was performed. There had to be a rigorous process/procedure for reviewing and cross-checking each sample at every stage of the transplant (from organ transportation to direct transplant). Such checks will help to avoid a large number of medical errors.
Every healthcare facility needs a well-functioning communication system that will reduce the number of medical errors. Perhaps Duke Medical Center should have chosen the communication strategy proposed by Johns Hopkins (Adubato, 2004). The assertiveness model allows professionals to establish the most understandable communication between different links in the chain. When talking with medical staff, you need to remain calm, stick to medical terms, and discuss the prevailing situation. Personnel needs to declare their opinion and seek the consent of colleagues. Professionals always have to wait for a verbal answer; otherwise, the idea may be misunderstood or not heard. To communicate with patients, you need to choose a suitable environment, use a minimum of medical terms since many people do not know them.
Since most medical errors are associated with communication problems, the first step is to establish a well-functioning communication system in the hospital. Jessica’s situation is a bright marker for all healthcare institutions to rethink their strategy. When working with colleagues and patients, many factors must be considered to prevent medical errors in inpatient care. To avoid misunderstandings, a separate system is also required to assist those people who do not know English.
References
Adubato, S. (2004). Making the communication connection. National Library of Medicine, 35(9), 33-35.
Burns, L. R., Bradley, E. H., Weiner, B. J., & Shortell, S. M. (2012). Shortell and Kaluzny’s health care management: Organization, design, and behavior. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.