Talking with Patients about Other Clinicians' Errors

Abstract

You are a young neurologist practicing in a small hospital. You admit a 55-year-old woman with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus who had an embolic stroke at home. On reviewing the patient's medical record, you notice that she appears to have been in atrial fibrillation during two electrocardiographic (ECG) tests during visits to the office of her primary care physician (PCP) for palpitations. Her PCP, an internist who provides many of your referrals, read both ECGs as normal and attributed her palpitations to "probable mitral-valve prolapse and anxiety." The patient is currently in normal sinus rhythm. You show the internist the ECGs and express concern that they indicate atrial fibrillation. He politely disagrees and says you are confused by noise from his old ECG machine. However, when you ask two cardiologists to look at the ECGs, both immediately say "A-fib." The internist requests that you transfer the patient to his service. Copyright © 2013 Massachusetts Medical Society.