I have had my first taste of today's litiginous (if that's the word I want) society and how its likely to affect me as a medic. Every day at work, we have a handover meeting at 9 which is attended by all the Elderly Care doctors from consultants down to house officers. At the beginning, one of the consultants announced that she wanted everyone to look at a drug chart she was about to pass round and could whoever prescribed the lorazepam own up. Horrifyingly, it was me - and I was asked to see her afterwards in her office, while everyone sat in tense silence..It was a prescription from a night shift a month ago, so I couldn't even remember the circumstances - maybe the dose was wrong? I had no idea.

So anyway, she called me into her office and then told me (in a nice way) that she had received a formal complaint from the family about the prescription and that I had written nothing in the notes to say why it had been written, and that if I ended up in court one day it would be completely indefensible. It was an extremely unpleasant way to start the day, and not something I'm likely to forget too quickly! When on nights, nurses often shove drug charts under your nose and you just write things up without thinking. I had had the impression sedatives could be written up much like paracetamol and the like, but this clearly wasn't the case. So rom now on, there will be no more shortcuts! Another of the consultants who I have been working with recently came up to me afterwards and very kindly said it was a minor mistake and that he thought I was a very good doctor from what he had seen, which was reassuring.

Otherwise, I have been getting on with knitting Forecast, which I will post about later. It is just beautiful so far! I also went to see Last King of Scotland with Mr C, apart from some gratuitous dodginess it was an excellent portrayal of Idi Amin and the atrocities in Uganda - Forrest Whittaker is an incredible actor! The storyline with the Scottish doctor is a bit improbable but it's so well done that you can see how it could have happened. Mr C is an education - I would never have thought to watch a film like that if it wasn't for him!

8 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
    You poor child.

    I hope everything turns out ok.

    I forgot to let you know - the gloves were great - and very useful in freezing cold Wales - thanks!
    Atia said...
    oh good glad you liked them! Yes it was a day of woe on Friday..today is also a day of woe but for other reasons (see next post)
    Lindsey said...
    So sorry to hear your day started so badly. I hope everything is OK, I am always amazed at how much doctors are expected to juggle (my husband is a resident & since he's on a different service every month, I don't know how he's supposed to know anything when he starts a new rotation!).

    I also really love the items you're planning on knitting this year, and I hope you get lots done. I can't wait to see pictures.

    And finally....you've been tagged. Please visit my blog for the rules!
    Anonymous said...
    omb that sounds terrifying.. why did they complain- did anything happen to your patient? Or did they just not want to be doped..

    I want to see The Last King of Scotland- I'm still confused about where Scotland comes in but it looks good.. I'm also inclined to see Babel
    Anonymous said...
    omb that sounds terrifying.. why did they complain- did anything happen to your patient? Or did they just not want to be doped..

    I want to see The Last King of Scotland- I'm still confused about where Scotland comes in but it looks good.. I'm also inclined to see Babel
    Atia said...
    hi lindsey! first time I've been tagged but there is no shortage of weird things to say about me so I'm sure I'll be fine :)

    Everything is fine now, I'm on call at the moment and am making a point of writing everything in the notes!
    Jennie said...
    Don't worry too much, we all get things shoved up our noses on nights. The longer I work the more I'm willing to say no to the ward staff with things like night sedation (eg half a zopiclone if and only if Horlicks has failed)
    Atia said...
    thanks bagknitter that's good to know..actually on call last night I got asked to prescribe a sedative for a patient again and this time I actually went to review the patient! She didn't seem agitated at all when I went to see her!

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