profession
More safety, teamwork training sought in med schools
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 22, 2010
U.S. medical schools are not doing enough to teach students the science of patient safety and the teamwork and communication skills needed to provide safer care, according to a March report by the National Patient Safety Foundation's Lucian Leape Institute (link).
Forty prominent medical leaders, including former Joint Commission President Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, made 12 recommendations for improving safety training in medical schools and graduate medical education. Medical educators should devote more time to teaching students about safety as a basic science, and spend more time on systemic problem-solving and continuous quality improvement, the report said. Also, medical schools should teach students in teams with students from nursing, pharmacy and other health professions.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/03/22/prbf0322.htm.
