Avoiding Errors in Paediatrics

by Raine, Joseph E.; Williams, Kate; Bonser, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780470658680
• ISBN10: 0470658681
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-02-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

For Junior Doctors, Specialty Trainees, and all those involved in hospital governance, this book offers the ultimate real-life guide to help tackle the professional and emotional challenges of life as a doctor in paediatrics. Unlike other clinical management titles, this book identifies and explains the most common and important medical errors. If things do go wrong, the medico-legal author team provides advice on how best to deal with a complaint and all that may follow. Using a memorable and engaging case-based structure, this volume is valuable as a reference from the foundation years and beyond.

Author Biography

Joseph E. Raine is Consultant Paediatrician, Whittington Hospital, London

Kate Williams is Partner, RadcliffesLeBrasseur Solicitors, Leeds

Jonathan Bonser is Consultant in the Healthcare Department of Fishburns LLP, Solicitors, London, and former Head of the Claims and Legal Services, Department of the Leeds office of the Medical Protection Society

Table of Contents

Contributors

Foreword

Abbreviations

Introduction

Section 1

Errors and their causes

A few words about error

Learning from system failures-the vincristine case

Person-centred paediatric errors and their causes

The patient consultation

Failure to identify a sick child

Inability to competently perform practical procedures

Failure to check test results or act on abnormal findings

Prescribing errors

Failures in resuscitation

Sources of error in child protection cases

References and further reading

Medico-legal aspects

Error in a legal context

Negligence

Medical negligence

Issues around consent

Confidentiality

References and further reading

Section 2 Clinical cases

Introduction

Case 1 A boy with a limp

Case 2 A fitting infant

Case 3 A persistent fever

Case 4 A ruptured spleen

Case 5 A teenager with abdominal pain

Case 6 A young girl with a vaginal discharge

Case 7 An iatrogenic problem

Case 8 An infant with a large head

Case 9 An infant with bloody diarrhoea

Case 10 An infant with persistent jaundice

Case 11 A child with leukaemia and a tummy ache

Case 12 A boy with fevers and rigors

Case 13 A stiff hand

Case 14 A serious feeding problem

Case 15 Fits, faints and funny turns

Case 16 A hospital acquired infection

Case 17 Recurrent wheeze

Case 18 A jaundiced neonate

Case 19 A febrile boy with a limp

Case 20 A febrile neonate

Case 21 A neonate with abnormal movements

Case 22 A teenage with scrotal pain

Case 23 A boy with non-specific symptoms

Case 24 A delayed walker

Case 25 A diabetic girl with a headache

Case 26 A boy with sickle cell disease and a fever

Case 27 Negative test results

Case 28 A bad case of flu

Case 29 A difficult transfer

Case 30 Treatment for tonsillitis

Case 31 Increasing respiratory distress

Case 32 A feverish girl with poor feeding

Case 33 An infant with a swollen face

Case 34 Starting a new treatment

Case 35 The importance of interpretation

Case 36 A febrile boy with a scald

Section 3 Investigating and dealing with errors

Introduction

How hospitals try to prevent errors and their recurrence

The role of hospital staff

External investigators

Hospital investigations

Legal advice – where to get it and how to pay

External enquiries

The role of the doctor

Emotional repercussions

Conclusion

References and further reading

Index