There is no 'I' in ED team care
Winning a malpractice case takes more than success in the courtroom: It also requires ongoing best practices on the part of the ED manager to educate and prepare the staff for possible lawsuits. One important thing for the manager to remember is that they are not an island, offers James J. Nosich, Esq., of the Coral Gables, FL, law firm McGrane Nosich.
"They have to understand that their role is limited in the ED to the team they have," Nosich explains. "They need to do their best to always try to educate physicians, nurses, techs, and midlevel providers that they are all on the same team and they all have one goal in mind, rather than trying to do it all themselves or blame other people on the team." More time should be spent "on having the best team you can," he says.
Teach your staff to document in a factual and nonconfrontational manner, says Arthur L. Diskin, MD, FACEP, vice president and global chief medical officer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd., who formerly oversaw the management of numerous ED physician groups and was a client of Nosich. "Document thoroughly the facts and sequence of events, without documenting arguments with other medical people in the medical record, like, 'I called the guy five times, and he still did not respond to my call,' or 'I told him the patient needed to be admitted, and he said I was an idiot,'" he says.
Winning a malpractice case takes more than success in the courtroom: It also requires ongoing best practices on the part of the ED manager to educate and prepare the staff for possible lawsuits.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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