Make your own mistakes

• Main Author: Chesser MS
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arizona Thoracic Society 2014-08-01
• Series: Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care
• Subjects: mistakes; patient care; patient evaulation; pain; malingering; disruptive; patient; difficult; air transport; critical care
• Online Access: http://www.swjpcc.com/general-medicine/2014/8/29/make-your-own-mistakes.html

No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. One of the many adages that we collectively pass on to our medical students and residents is the concept of “making your own mistakes.” In other words, one should not compound the mistakes of others by failing to make one’s own assessments and treatment decisions. I frequently recount certain stories to my house-staff in order to illustrate how easily even conscientious doctors can violate this rule! Here is one such story. Between the autumn of 2008 through the spring of 2009 I was assigned to Joint Base Balad in Iraq, flying Critical Care Air Transport (CCATT) with the U.S. Air Force. I was the physician on a 3 person team with the task of providing en route critical care for ICU/Trauma patients during our standard air evacuation flights on cargo aircraft. Our transcontinental flights were on the C-17, an enormous aircraft designed to transport large cargo like main battle tanks ...