Journal of surgical education | 2019
An Innovative Approach for Familiarizing Surgeons with Malpractice Litigation.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE\nFamiliarize surgery residents with medicolegal knowledge and skills required when facing the prospect of being sued through a simulation session.\n\n\nDESIGN\nThe general surgery residency, hospital risk management, and malpractice attorneys collaboratively organized an educational intervention, consisting of an introductory lecture followed by a mock lawsuit. Two medical malpractice attorneys acted as defense and plaintiff attorneys while an attending surgeon experienced in litigation acted as defendant. Experience, attitudes, and preintervention/postintervention competency were evaluated via retrospective self-assessment.\n\n\nSETTING\nWeekly departmental educational conference.\n\n\nPARTICIPANTS\nForty residents and attending surgeons.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong the participants, 27.5% had been named in a law suit before. Most surgeons (70.0%) are worried about malpractice. Physicians who had been sued were no more likely to worry about malpractice (18.6 vs 25.0%, p\u202f=\u202f0.82) than their colleagues who had never been sued. Results from the retrospective preintervention/postintervention competency assessments\xa0demonstrated significant improvement in all measured competencies after the mock lawsuit. In comparison with attending faculty, residents obtained greater improvements in understanding the essential elements of a medical claim (1.9 vs 1.1, p\u202f=\u202f0.03), gaining confidence doing a deposition for medical litigation (1.9 vs 0.9, p < 0.01) and understanding the do s and don ts when named in a lawsuit (2.0 vs 1.1, p\u202f=\u202f0.01).\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe novel educational format effectively familiarized surgery faculty and residents with the process of litigation and improved their confidence and mental preparedness when facing the prospect of a lawsuit. It is a valuable educational tool that can be incorporated in residency training and faculty development curricula.