The blame game- experiences of female residents in obstetrics & gynecology regarding lapses in patient safety

  • Shazia Tufail CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS
  • Nilofar Mustafa CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS
  • Rizwana Kamran CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS
  • Junaid Sarfraz Khan CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS
Keywords: Critical incidents, Patient safety, Patient harm, Medical errors, Surgical errors

Abstract

Objectives: Primary objective was to explore experiences of female residents of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) regarding lapses in patient safety (PS) while secondary objective was to explore factors hampering or favouring improvement of PS in OB/GYN.

Methods: In this qualitative narrative study carried out in OB/GYN department of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore for six months from 1st April to 30th September 2021, six fourth-year residents were asked to write narratives of their personal experiences of medical error (witnessed or committed) in detail and reflect on those experiences, which were then transcribed. Code labels and themes were assigned manually. Interpretation of these themes was done after thematic content analysis.

Results: Six, fourth-year female residents with a mean age of 28.6±1.8 participated in the study. Two main themes with sub-themes were identified: 1) Challenges in patient safety (Personal challenges, Workplace challenges, Barriers to PS), 2) Lessons learnt from experiences (Self-improvement and; Promotion of patient safety culture). Heavy workload with long working hours, lack of communication and teamwork, lack of experience and inadequate supervision were major factors involved in PS lapses experienced by residents.

Conclusion: Incidents of Patient Safety (PS) lapses had a strong impact on the emotional and professional life of residents. Formal PS training with improvement of working conditions may help promote PS culture.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.7.5741

How to cite this:
Tufail S, Mustafa N, Kamran R, Khan JS. The blame game- experiences of female residents in obstetrics & gynecology regarding lapses in patient safety. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(7):1924-1930. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.7.5741

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Biographies

Nilofar Mustafa, CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS

Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Rizwana Kamran, CMH Lahore Medical College, NUMS

Assistant professor, Department of Health Professions Education

Published
2022-08-30
How to Cite
Tufail, S., Mustafa, N., Kamran, R., & Khan, J. S. (2022). The blame game- experiences of female residents in obstetrics & gynecology regarding lapses in patient safety. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 38(7). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.7.5741
Section
Original Articles