Clinical medicine (London, England)
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Objective To determine whether hindsight bias impacts on retrospective case note review using a five point scoring system based on modern clinical governance toolkits. Design Survey. Setting Clinicians of varying grades invited to complete a short internet survey. ⋯ Conclusion In some cases, clinicians are markedly more critical of identical healthcare when a patient dies compared to when a patient survives. Hindsight bias while reviewing care when a patient survives might prevent identification of learning arising from errors. Additionally, we predict hindsight bias combined with a legal duty of candour will cause families to be informed that patients died because of healthcare error when this is not a fact.
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Letter Case Reports
Lesson of the month 1: Prolonged QT syndrome due to donepezil: a reversible cause of falls?
Prolonged QT syndrome precipitates cardiac arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes (TdP) resulting in cardiogenic syncope or sudden death. We report a case of prolonged QT syndrome caused by donepezil which resulted in a fall and hip fracture. ⋯ This case highlights a lesser known side effect of this dementia drug. It also reminds us of the importance of taking a thorough drug history while considering potential drug toxicity/interactions as part of the comprehensive geriatric assessment.