Lessons Hard Learned: Dr Domhnall Brannigan
January 28, 2014
After a bit of a break – the Lessons Hard Learned series is back.
Today I am chatting with Dr Domhnall Brannigan from Tasmania / Ireland. He tells me about a really sad case he saw and we discuss the biases we all carry in medicine, communication and some Resus stuff you won’t read in the textbooks.
You can check out Domhnall’s blog over at underneathem.com , follow his Twitter rants @dreapadoirtas
OR you can hear his excellent SMACC 2013 lecture over at the ICN website here.
But for now lets hear from the big guy himself – take it away mate…
DIRECT DOWNLOAD on your browser
2 Comments
Thanks Casey and Domhnall great discussion!
Esp liked thoughts on predjudices affecting decion making and Domhnalls advice re
“what if this was my mother”
Thanks again
Mike
Domnhall and Casey,
That was just brilliant and came at a time that I am literally losing sleep over the management of a patient I was involved in where I have been agonising over whether the outcome could and should have been different.
There were some fantastic pearls there with my particular favourite being that when big calls need to be made and you have some uncertainty you should call in the most senior and experienced people to help make the decision, even if that means waking them up or otherwise disturbing their serenity. This will help ensure that the best decision is made and that afterwards there will be less second-guessing about whether the most appropriate path was taken.
I also agree that you have to be mindful of prejudices, and in particular be aware of the infectivity of such prejudices as they invariably colour the views and prejudices of those other clinicians you share them with. This may mean that decisions are made which do not reflect the full realities of the case because most of us rely on the acumen and impressions of our colleagues to help us deal with the workload of a busy shift rather than starting from scratch. Once again thankyou for opening up about this difficult case.