Developing a Platform for Learning from Mistakes: changing the culture of patient safety amongst junior doctors

Junior doctors commonly make mistakes which may compromise patient safety. Despite the recent push by the NHS to encourage a “no blame” culture, mistakes are still viewed as shameful, embarrassing and demoralising events. The current model for learning from mistakes means that junior doctors only learn from their own errors. A survey was designed by the author for all the Foundation Year 1 doctors (FY1s) at Yeovil District Hospital to understand better the culture surrounding mistakes, and the types of mistakes that were being made. Using the results of the survey and the support of senior staff, a “Near misses” session has been introduced for FY1s once a month at which mistakes that have been made are discussed, with a consultant present to facilitate the proceedings. The aims of these sessions are to promote a culture of no blame, feedback information to clinical governance, and share learning experiences. 100% of the FY1s had made a mistake that could compromise patient safety. 63% discussed their mistakes with colleagues, 44% with seniors, and only 13% with their educational supervisor. Barriers to discussing mistakes included shame, embarrassment, fear of judgement, and unapproachable seniors. 94% thought a “Near misses” session would be useful. After the third session 100% of the FY1s agreed that the sessions were useful; 53% had changed their practice as a result of something they learned at the sessions. After discussing errors as a group we have worked with the clinical governance department, enacting strategies to avoid repetition of mistakes. Feedback from the junior doctors has been overwhelmingly positive and we have found these sessions to be a simple, inexpensive, and popular solution to cultural change in our organisation.