Learning from our mistakes

I made a mistake recently. I was working as a clinical assistant in accident and emergency and I missed a fracture. I missed it because I did not x ray the injured digit; I did not believe it to be fractured clinically.

I was doing the dressing clinic when the sister appeared to warn me of a patient outside who was “hopping mad,” having been sent for an x ray examination by his GP. Pull the card, I said, feeling philosophical until I saw my own handwriting from seven weeks earlier. Should she get someone else to see him, asked the nurse. I resisted the temptation. …