PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Medical mistakes:
Article reprinted with permission of UBM Life Sciences –
VETTED, April 17, 2019. VETTED is a copyrighted publicatio
UBM Life Sciences
“Just don’t make them”
isn’t a sustainable strategy
Apr 17, 2019 By Meghann Berglund, DVM VETTED
By Meghann Berglund, DVM
One mistake can make you put so many obstacles in your path to avoid doing so again that you
can’t move forward—or worse, decide it’s best to leave the veterinary profession altogether. As one
veterinary professional to another, let’s band together to stop this from happening!
How to screw up and kill your patient, method #4 372.
These sarcastically cheery words from my classmate,
scribbled in the margin of our notes, summed up
the majority of my education on medical errors in
veterinary school.
I spent four years learning all the things I shouldn’t do
if I wanted my patients to live—don’t mess up the
decimal, don’t write abbreviations, don’t mix up Drug
A with Drug B.
I learned all about how to give bad news: “I’m afraid
I have bad news that will be difficult for you to hear,
Mrs. Smith.”
I never learned how to say, “Mrs. Smith, something
horrible happened, and it was my fault.”
I thought if I took careful notes on all the ways that
I could screw up, I would be protected from doing
it. If I buried my clients in waivers and disclaimers, I
could make them sign away my anxiety. If I monitored
my technicians diligently and thoroughly, they would
never make mistakes—and they certainly wouldn’t
complain to my superiors about my micromanaging
personality and lack of faith in their abilities. (Spoiler
alert: They totally did.)
I read the cautionary tales of negligence, oversight and
shame sent to me monthly by my liability insurance
company and said to myself, “That won’t be me.
That can’t be me.” I put mental placeholders between
me and the infamous «Dr. A.» I would have double-
checked the dosage. I would have recommended
referral. I would have used an E-collar.
Issue 02 | MAY 2019 | 15