The Success of Failure: Dealing with Adverse Outcomes (Plenary VIII)

Thursday, April 10, 2025

10:00am – 10:45am ET

Location: Versailles - 2nd Level

CE: 0.75 CME Credit

Speaker(s)

George Willis, MD, FACEP, FAAEM (he/him/his)

Associate Professor
UT Health Sciences in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Session Moderator(s)

Kathleen Stephanos, MD, FAAEM (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics
University of Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Zachary Repanshek, MD

Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University
Gladwyne, Pennsylvania

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Disclosure(s):

George Willis, MD, FACEP, FAAEM: No financial relationships to disclose

Dealing with a situation where we cause a bad patient outcome is exceptionally difficult for any emergency physician at any point in their career. Questions often arise such as "Am I going to get sued? Or worse, am I a bad doctor?" We are seeing an increasing rate of physicians leaving medicine altogether and, worse, physician suicide. How we approach a medical error is paramount to how to overcome this stigma of false mediocrity that can lead to the sudden or fatal end to an emergency physician's career. During this talk, the speaker will discuss a story of his own, how to cope with the error, and how these errors can actually make you a better doctor for future patients.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss how medical errors can adversely affect the career trajectory of emergency physicians.
Discuss some successful and harmful coping mechanisms employed when medical errors are made.
Discuss how medical error can result in improved patient outcomes.