Bridging physician-patient perspectives following an adverse medical outcome.

Mark Montijo, PhD Kathleen Nelson, RN, MPA Mark Scafidi, JD Dave St Pierre, MHROD Dorothy Tarrant, LCSW, MPA Jocelyne Vistan, MA Maureen Whitmore, MA “Human error and systems conditions periodically align and combine to contribute to unanticipated adverse outcomes for patients. What is most important is the manner in which we handle these adverse outcomes. Patient safety and clinician welfare will be best served if we are honest about unanticipated adverse outcomes with our patients, open with our colleagues and ourselves, and able to handle such occurrences with sympathy and empathy for our patients and our colleagues.” —Kaiser Permanente’s Statement of Principle, from the Implementation Guidelines for Communicating Unanticipated Adverse Outcomes, October 20021