Risk Management-Obstetrics and Gynecology Perspective.

The Obstetrics and Gynecology physician's likelihood to experience medical malpractice claims are higher than in other medical specialties. We will review the basic principles of health care risk management, the role of the risk manager, and the importance of health care risk management in risk mitigation for obstetrics and gynecology physicians. Attention is focused on medical record documentation, disclosure of adverse events, second victim programs, grievance management techniques, alternative dispute resolution concepts, regulatory inquiries including state licensure investigations, product failures, and electronic media strategies.

Do Written Disclosures of Serious Events Increase Risk of Malpractice Claims? One Health Care System's Experience.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether Pennsylvania ACT 13 of 2002 (Mcare) requiring the written and verbal disclosure of "serious events" was accompanied by increased malpractice claims or compensation costs in a large U.S. health system.

The nurse's role in the causation of compensable injury.

Mistakes can be life-threatening and result in malpractice claims. There are few studies that discuss malpractice claims and nursing. The purpose was to identify possible relationships between the actions, behaviors, or characteristics of RNs and the injury suffered by a patient involved in a compensable event.

Actions, behaviors, and characteristics of RNs involved in compensable injury.

Malpractice claims analysis offers valuable insight into nursing practice. A review of 16 malpractice claims involving 19 RNs identified their characteristics, actions, and behaviors that contributed to monetary compensation. Most events involved failure to perform a timely assessment and intervention.