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Tag: medicine
Checklists – How we can reduce harm done in medicine
Doctors are humans, and humans are not perfect. We will all make mistakes sometime in our life, and because of our job, we can risk harming patients.
The teaching theme this week at university was medicinal safety – teaching us common prescribing errors and bad habits junior hospital doctors often make due to inexperience. Habits such as using abbreviations, writing ambiguous directions, and even bad handwriting seemed were common reasons for medical emergencies to occur. The important thing to remember is that these could all be preventable.
The following is a list of some bad habits that could be easily fixed to prevent patients from prescribing errors.
- Write drugs in their generic (drug) name – don’t write the drug in abbreviations or in the brand name
- e.g 1. How many people know that DDAVP is an abbreviation for desmopressin
- e.g. 2. Cyclosporin (Chemo drug) was accidentally given instead of Cyklokapron (Tranexamic acid used to stop heavy bleeding)
- Use your decimal points carefully – People can lose the decimal point
- e.g WRITE 0.5mg instead of .5mg because people can easily miss the decimal point and administer 5mg
- e.g. But write 100mg instead of 100.0mg because the decimal point can be missed and 1000mg will be administered instead.
- Clearly articulate your dosing directions – spell out your intentions
- Don’t use OD,BD,TDS and instead write Daily, Twice Daily, Three times daily
- If you don’t know what you’re charting, look it up or ask for help.
- There were cases where dosing errors were copied from the previous chart to the next as the doctor just transcribed the drug directions out of uncertainty.
There are many more good prescribing habits that could be found in your local hospital procedure guidelines. If in doubt, have a look there. Otherwise, grab a pharmacist and ask for help!
One very interesting point brought up in class was to use checklists. In certain parts of the world, hospitals are implementing checklists as part of day-to-day practice to reduce preventable harm in medicine. The idea may have originated from airline companies that use checklists as a way to reduce errors on board an aircraft.
I love this idea and it sounds awesome. This is a simple and cost-effective way for doctors to double-check everything is in order before starting or finishing a procedure.
On the other hand, I’m aware that people are against the idea of checklists. Some doctors feel that checklists limits their autonomy, others feel that they have experience and know what to do and thus don’t see the need of it.
This may be the case for some people, but for the most of us errors are bound to be made in busy and stressful situations. It doesn’t hurt to be more careful, especially if the harm goes towards your patients.
Where do you stand on checklists?
Hey Doctors! Talk to a Vet, you never know what you’ll learn!
“Learning about the significant overlap between the disorders of animals and humans, how was it that I had never thought to ask a veterinarian, for insights into one of my human patients?”
I watched this UCLA Cardiology professor share what she learnt from our veterinarian colleagues. I have to say, I whole heartedly agree.
I’ve got a best friend from high school that is working as a vet, and it’s just fascinating to learn about the similarities and differences between human medicine and vet medicine. Here’s a snippet of what I’ve learnt from him over the years.
Did you know:
- Cat’s normal heart rate is between 140 to 220 bpm?
It will take super human listening skills to hear pan-systolic murmurs and regurgitations! - Dogs cannot metabolise certain compounds in chocolate, making it toxic for them to eat.
- Paracetamol is deadly to cats.
True story! Seriously, go talk to a vet. You never know what you’ll learn.
Come meet the hero that would never be an Avenger!
Teaching Med students the side effects of chemo drugs
Meet Captain Chemo-tox! The guy who’ll probably never be an Avenger.
Superpower? Crazy suit and costume that shows us the side effects of chemo drugs!
Ears – Cisplatin/Carboplatin (Acoustic nerve damage)
Arms, legs – Vincristine (Peripheral neuropathy)
Lungs – Bleomycin, Busulfan –> Pulmonary fibrosis
Heart – Doxorubicin, Trastuzumab (Cardiotoxicity)
Kidneys – Cisplatin/Carboplatin (nephrotoxicity)
Bladder – Cyclophosphamide (hemorrhagic cystitis)
Bone – 5-FU, 6-MP, Methotrexate (myelosuppression)
Thank you… Captain? You made my life just that little bit easier… hmm
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You won’t believe how complicated this lifecycle can be!
We’re learning the malaria parasite life cycle. The level of precision and evolution that the parasite had to go through to develop into this life cycle is just mind-boggling. It is just amazing to learn about. The animation makes it also very entertaining to watch too!
How the HIV virus works
We’re almost through our infectious disease block, and have just learnt about HIV.
Came across this awesome and elegant demonstration of how the virus infects T-cells. Just wanted to share with you guys!
Learning medicine through questions
FOR MORE QUESTIONS, COME VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. WE WILL BE REGULARLY UPLOADING NEW QUESTIONS THROUGHOUT THE WEEK.
We’ve all heard the theories on different study methods and finding the right type for each of us. Some of us are auditory learners, some of us are visual. Recently I’ve experimented with learning through questions. After all, we need to recall the knowledge when prompted by the question.
I’ve made a few questions and answers for you guys to sample and see if it suits you.
Click for ANSWER:
For more questions, come visit our Facebook page. WE WILL be regularly uploading new questions throughout the week.
A
Onco 4 – Genetics of Colorectal Cancers
Colorectal cancer sequence – adapted from Robbins and Cotran Pathological Basis of Disease 9th ed
Find out the genetic component of the pathogenesis of colorectal cancers
Fighting Cancer
This TED talk really got me excited, particularly now that we have finished our oncology block and starting microbiology. I love these radical approaches that could potentially revolutionise our current thinking and therapeutic approaches. Watch this short video and let us know what you think
HS
Onco 3 – Familial Neoplasms – Cancers that run in the family
Learn what you need to know about cancers with a familial link!
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