Residents and attending physicians have an ethical responsibility to speak up if there is a concern that a colleague lacks clinical skills and is providing inadequate patient care.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has implemented patient safety initiatives to help decrease the number of medical errors in surgery.
The morbidity and mortality conference serves an important educational role for physicians and underscores the importance of error disclosure in improving patient safety.
Three reports considered by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs are described, along with the process for revising the AMA's Code of Medical Ethics and trivia about contraceptive use.