Episode 107: Just Culture with Dr. Nidhi Goel

Think about the last time you made a mistake. Now, imagine this happened at work, with a patient, and that your clinical setting is a punitive place where people are shamed for their mistakes. Would you want to tell anyone about this error? 

What if, instead, you worked somewhere that embraced open conversation about errors, and looked without judgment at all the factors that might lead to mistakes? 

This is at the heart of Just Culture - a philosophy and process that looks at both the individual and the system in a non-punitive way to figure out where something went wrong, and how we can all learn from it and make changes so it doesn’t happen again.

Our guest for this episode is Dr. Nidhi Goel - UMSOM alum, Med Peds physician, a leader in quality and safety for both the medicine and pediatrics departments at our hospital, and Director of the Medicine Clerkship - for a practical conversation on exactly what Just Culture is and how it impacts our students. Spoiler alert: she shares a real-world example of the Just Culture process that our team will never forget. 

Resources:

• AHRQ's Just Culture Guide
• IHI courses
• Patient Safety and Quality Improvement elective from the UMSOM Course Catalog