You made a mistake. Now what do you do?

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By Dr Ollie Burton

The measure of a good doctor isn't a flawless record, says Dr Ollie Burton. Mistakes will happen – it's how you handle them that matters.

Some years ago now I forgot to cancel a patient’s blood-thinning injection the night before surgery. Although I had documented that the patient was pre-op and should not receive it that evening in the notes, I had not crossed it from the drug chart. So the nurse that evening gave the injection – which would potentially derail the operation the following day.

Something you commonly hear in surgery is that if you’re not making mistakes or not seeing complications, then you’re not operating enough

I logged in from home at 11pm to check on the patients before the next day and clocked this during my checks. This prompted a flurry of phone calls and resulted in the patient being operated on later in the day – with me apologising to them in the morning and explaining what had happened. For what it’s worth, the patient took it very well and appreciated my candour.