The Medical Protection New Zealand podcast

There are some medications that come up time and again when we consider prescribing errors where serious harm has been done to a patient.

The list includes lithium, clozapine, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants, but one other medication that should always make us take extra special care when prescribing, is methotrexate.

This podcast considers a case where methotrexate prescribing led to a patient’s admission to ICU, but there have been New Zealand cases in the past where patients have died.

In this podcast we use methotrexate as an example of how you can make your prescribing safer.

In this episode we look at the use of standing orders and the obligations that signing a standing order form creates for the clinician and what steps we have to take to ensure we are fulfilling the requirements of the regulations.

In modern practice we all frequently work in health care teams where other team members, who do not have prescribing rights, ask us to write scripts for patients they are seeing.

Sometimes this is for patients we have seen in the past, but sometimes it may be for a patient we don’t even know.

In this podcast we consider the medicolegal risks of prescribing when you yourself are not seeing the patient...
• How can you ensure the patient has been properly informed about possible side effects?
• Will you be held responsible if something goes wrong?
• Am I even allowed to write a script for a patient I haven’t seen?
• Has the Medical Council statement on Good prescribing managed to stay up to date with how modern teams work with allied health professionals often seeing patients, either in person or on telehealth, and employers then expecting doctors to prescribe for those patients?

Most doctors provide some form of telehealth since COVID. However as a result of the Government policy and funding of telehealth clinics, along with the rise in the number of narrow purpose clinics (weight loss, cannabis etc) there is increasing use of telehealth services. There are inherent risks for clinicians seeing patients by telehealth. 

This episode discusses these risks and how to keep your patients and yourselves safe.

In this first episode of this series we discuss the law change to allow for 12 month prescriptions.

We discuss factors to consider when deciding the length of prescriptions you write. We also explore ways to minimise complaints.

Although this podcast is focused primarily on Primary Care, the principles are equally applicable to secondary care and does discuss hospital prescribing at patient discharge and outpatient clinics.

A common scenario in Primary Care and in hospital Emergency Departments is when a patient has been assaulted and needs to be assessed.  The police would like a copy of the clinical notes and a statement from you.  This podcast discusses how best to document your assessment to ensure your notes are appropriate for court processes.

It is very common for clinicians to be required to be a witness of fact in a court case, at a Coroner’s inquest or Tribunal hearing. Others are asked to be an expert witness. What’s the difference? If you’ve never done this before, it can be daunting. Listen to this podcast as we explore helpful tips when faced with these unfamiliar roles.

If you have ever been the subject of a complaint, even a minor one,  you will understand just how difficult they can be to cope with.  In part 3 of this three part series we talk about strategies that may help you to cope with the impact of complaints.

If you have ever been the subject of a complaint, even a minor one,  you will understand just how difficult they can be to cope with.  In part 2 of this three part series we explore the personal impact on us as clinicians and hear from ‘John’, a clinician who ended up leaving the profession following an HDC complaint.

If you have ever been the subject of a complaint, even a minor one, you will understand just how difficult they can be to cope with.  If you’ve never had a complaint, statistics would indicate that it’s a matter of when, not if.  Most clinicians experience similar reactions to complaints. In this first of a three part series we explore the personal impact of complaints on us as clinicians.