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By Lyndra Vassar, AMA Wire
Originally posted Oct. 22, 2015

What helps physicians after committing a serious medical error? Researchers recently asked 61 physicians the same question and distilled their words of wisdom into a must-have list of recommendations for physician training programs to consider. Here's how experienced physicians have learned to cope with medical errors and to grow professionally despite challenging experiences in practice.

Authors of a recent study published in Academic Medicine found that although "healthcare institutions are increasingly recognizing the physician as the 'second victim' of medical error, more attention needs to be placed on reframing the error into a positive post-learning event, rather than a 'coping' or 'surviving' framework."

This propelled professors at University of Virginia School of Medicine, University of Florida and Harvard Medical School to investigate factors that may help physicians gain wisdom and inform educational programs to support physicians after harmful errors occur.

Authors of the study spent three years conducting interviews with physicians who volunteered to discuss their most serious self-reported medical errors. Using their interview responses, study authors identified key themes that reflect what helped physicians cope with medical errors and advance in their careers. Among the themes they identified as beneficial to physicians learning and healing after committing medical errors were seven steps.

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Residents want work-life balance, but finding time to preserve your own wellness while successfully caring for your patients requires self-awareness and boundaries, two things many residents struggle to establish amid pressures in training. That's why one physician created a play as a wellness solution that helps residents tackle tough conversations about balancing family, personal identity and practice.

When Bill Thomas, MD, sat down to pen the first scene of his play, a blaring trumpet is all that came to mind. He planned to start the play with a brassy trill but didn't know what would come next. He imagined how one horn would help him capture the physician who hasn't spoken to his spouse in days, the resident who stopped playing cello or the intern dreaming of a full night's sleep. He knew he wanted to write an honest play that followed familiar physician stories and a theatrical format any medical team could perform.

After a year of rewrites, what started as a looping sound boomed into "Play What's Not There," a one-act play exploring honest life challenges physicians confront while juggling practice, self-fulfillment and family.

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The Associated Press
Originally posted Nov. 24, 2015

Executives with Arizona's non-profit health insurance co-op said Tuesday that they have failed to come up with additional financial backing and the insurer plans to shut down all operations Dec. 31st.

The announcement by Meritus Health Partners means 59,000 Arizonans it now covers need to find a new insurer by Dec. 15th, if they want coverage on Jan. 1st.

The decision comes nearly a month after the Department of Insurance suspended its right to sell new policies or renew current ones and placed it under formal supervision. Federal officials also pulled its policies from the health insurance marketplace website late last month.