San Francisco: The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) has published a groundbreaking monograph entitled “Diagnosing and Treating Medical Errors in Family Practice.” This monograph is the first of its kind to address errors in the primary care office setting, as well as providing recommendations for systems improvements that can be made to reduce the likelihood of errors.

“Serious, preventable errors are occurring in our health care system, and though some would like to point the finger and lay blame, it’s in the best interest of all to recognize that no human is infallible and errors are bound to happen; this includes physicians and their staffs,” says Leonard Fromer, MD, CAFP Past President. “Given the nature of primary care and the frenetic pace of today’s managed care medical practices, the chances for error are great. Family physicians look at the Institute of Medicine [IOM] report as a call to action to examine their care processes and take steps to reduce the incidence of errors in their practices.”

The monograph recommends that in order to successfully identify errors, a culture of safety and errors reporting must be established. This includes making a clear distinction between blameless and blameworthy errors. A discussion of medical errors must be differentiated from a traditional malpractice risk management discussion. While some errors may result in malpractice lawsuits, many mistakes that could result in harm do not, and these ‘near misses’ deserve attention too.

Since 1948, CAFP has been analyzing and disseminating trends and information to assist California’s family physicians in their practices. With nearly 7,000 members, including active practicing family physicians, residents in family medicine, and medical students interested in the specialty, CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California, and the largest chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Family physicians are trained to treat an entire family’s medical needs, addressing the whole spectrum of life’s medical challenges. FPs serve a broad base of patients in urban, suburban and rural areas, often in California’s most underserved areas.