Failure Is an Option: Using Errors as Teaching Opportunities

Beck et al describe the characteristics and skills of effective clinical teachers by providing a practical framework for using errors as opportunities to promote the professional growth of students. For our purposes, a medical error is "the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim." Because medical students are closely supervised during their clinical rotations, it is unlikely that a student error would lead to major patient harm. However, many students will experience an error during medical school and may be reluctant to report their own errors for fear of negatively impacting their evaluations. The hidden curriculum, which refers to the implicit culture of rules and norms present in the clinical learning environment, may also discourage a student from speaking up. Furthermore, students who have a negative experience after an error occurs are less likely to take responsibility for future errors, whereas students who witness their attending physicians take ownership of errors are more likely to emulate that behavior.