From: Female residents experiencing medical errors in general internal medicine: a qualitative study
Domains explored during the interviews | Themes | Subthemes |
---|---|---|
General considerations about medical errors | 1. Insufficient culture of safety and error | - |
Residents’ personal experiences with errors | 2. Perceived causes of errors | Fatigue |
Stress and work overload | ||
Inadequate level of competences in relation to assigned tasks and/or | ||
inadequate supervision | ||
Dysfunctional communication | ||
3. Negative feelings in response to errors | Emotional distress | |
Guilt/self-blame | ||
Self-doubt/loss of confidence | ||
Anger against self | ||
4. Variable attitudes of the hierarchy | From very supportive to not supportive at all | |
Residents’ ways of coping | 5. Talking about the error | Talk to family members |
‾ as the core coping mechanism | To friends | |
To peers and colleagues | ||
To supervisors | ||
Disclose the error to the patient | ||
6. Defensive and constructive attitudes towards errors | Share responsibility of the error with others | |
Blame the system | ||
Consider the problem of error as normal | ||
Learn from one’s own errors and make changes in the future | ||
Gender issues and errors | 7. Gender-specific experiences in relation to errors | Male residents perceived as more confident and less affected by errors |
Perceptions that sexist attitudes among male supervisors can occur |