If the Executive Committee summoned you to address a practice issue of yours that had clinical importance, such as a medical dose error, what would you do?
You should give this answer a high priority, because medical errors kill a lot of people, and hospital departments are very sensitive about it. Yet, mistakes happen and your answer, while acknowledging this, should include your recognition of programs, policies, and attitudes that have evolved to minimize them.
"Medical errors are a serious concern, especially in the ER where things can move quickly and even skip the usual reassuring checks in place to prevent them. However, the policies and programs that have been implemented to prevent medical errors still apply, if not just more quickly. In other words, I want to follow these procedural safeguards whenever possible, especially with a keen eye on those emergency events in which procedures must be done or medication given quickly. If time constraints inherent in the emergency result in overlooking specific safeguards, I want to take the extra time, after, to document everything so that any shortcuts that were necessary can become part of the record, helpful after the fact if needed."
