 Managing risk in hospital practice This page is your starting point to CMPA's articles on managing medico-legal risk in hospital practice settings. When a treating physician is about to discharge a patient who needs follow-up care but the patient does not have a family physician, the physician may be under an obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure that the patient has access to appropriate follow-up care. Sometimes on-call consultants respond to calls seeking advice from other healthcare providers, but the consultant is unable to accept the patient and cannot provide the investigation or therapy the patient requires. Learn about the liability risks of accepting the call and providing advice, or refusing to take the call. Third parties who are not members of the surgical care team are often permitted to be present in operating rooms while surgeries are being performed. In such instances, it is important to consider many issues, among them patient privacy and confidentiality, consent, and safety. Patients have expectations during periods when their usual physician is not available, and it is up to the physician to take the necessary steps to communicate to patients and other healthcare providers what should be done during times when they will be unavailable. Several provinces have legislation requiring hospitals and healthcare facilities to report gunshot wounds; some also require reporting of stab wounds. Physicians should be aware of the legislation in their jurisdiction and the policies and procedures in their facilities, and disclose only the information required to permit the hospital to fulfill its obligation. |
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