Unit 8Section 5 Medical Uncertainty & Error

There is a tremendous pressure in medicine to get things right. “Recall the old saying in medical training: ‘See one, do one, teach one,” says Dr. Spencer-Nabors, a fourth-year resident in emergency and internal medicine at SUNY Downstate/Kings County hospital. “That’s see one, do one, teach one,” Nabor emphasizes. “You were told once, so you should know. There is a powerful group norming in medicine that says you have to get it right.”

Avery Hurt, “To err is human” The New Physician March 2008

This section addresses the human side of medical uncertainty, medical error, and apology