Identifying and Intervening on High- Malpractice-Risk Physicians
Target Audience
Leaders in medicine, nursing, risk management, and legal affairs.
Overview
Malpractice risk is a concern of hospitals, medical centers, and healthcare professionals. Research conducted by the faculty of the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt reveals that unsolicited patient complaints provide a data source that can be used to identify physicians and service units with greater levels of risk management-related activity. This seminar describes a peer-led, stepwise intervention model designed to make high-risk colleagues aware of their status and help healthcare leaders identify and address recurring sources of patient dissatisfaction that drive unnecessary risk. To date, Center personnel have overseen more than 1,000 interventions involving physicians in practices ranging from small rural facilities to large metropolitan facilities. Results of interventions reveal that most physicians respond favorably to the peer-based messenger model while some either leave their institutions (perhaps seeking a geographic cure) or require more directive approaches involving institution authorities.
Learning Objectives
- State the relationship between good patient relationships, patients' perceptions of quality care and risk management;
- State the reasons families offer for filing malpractice claims;
- Understand why certain physicians attract a disproportionate share of malpractice claims;
- Discuss the link between unsolicited patient complaints and malpractice risk;
- Describe how unsolicited patient complaints may be used as a basis for identifying and intervening with physicians of increased risk for malpractice claims.
Proceeds from CPPA educational programs support education and research at the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.