BARRIERS TO ACCEPTANCE OF MEDICAL ERROR - THE CASE FOR A TEACHING PROGRAM

There is need for a teaching programme aiming to impart a tolerance of error to undergraduate medical students. The implementation of such a programme may have to challenge the institutional norms that encourag e authoritarianism, intolerance of uncertainty and denial of error. Ac ceptance of error is a prerequisite for its candid reporting, and repo rting of errors is a prerequisite for their analysis with a view to th eir prevention. A curriculum on medical error may, therefore, not only help medical students cope with their future mistakes, but also reduc e their frequency. Teaching intervention aiming to promote an acceptan ce of medical error as both inevitable and reducible may also encourag e students' epistemological development by making them realize that th eir doubts and uncertainties are shared by their peers and instructors .