Hospitals want to know about all complaints against MDs, nurses

If patients complain about health professionals to regulatory colleges, hospitals want to be informed, the Ontario Hospital Association says.

By: Theresa Boyle Health, Published on Tue Jul 29 2014

 

Hospitals should be automatically informed when health professionals working there have been the subject of complaints to their respective regulatory bodies, the Ontario Hospital Association says.

Currently, health professionals are required to self-disclose to hospitals whether their self-regulatory colleges have taken action against them in response to complaints.

But the province’s medical watchdog, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, has acknowledged that doesn’t always happen.

Michael Green died after a minor, elective surgery at Humber River Hospital, triggering a complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and an oral caution to the physician in his case. 

The OHA, an umbrella group for the province’s 145 hospital corporations, isn’t just interested in knowing when regulatory colleges take action; it wants to know about complaints even before findings have been made.

And it wants this information for all regulated health professionals working at hospitals, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

“Regulatory colleges, including the CPSO, should notify hospitals when a complaint has been lodged against one of the hospital’s regulated health professionals, and inform hospitals as to the outcome or decision as it relates to such a complaint,” said an OHA statement emailed Monday by Akilah Dressekie, a public affairs specialist with the organization.

“Hospital leaders are always looking for ways to improve quality and one way to do that is to enhance the reporting mechanisms in place for both doctors and hospitals …. Access to this information is necessary in protecting patients, and ensuring quality of care,” the statement continued.

On Sunday, the Star reported that Humber River Hospital’s chief of staff, Dr. Jack Barkin, was ordered by the CPSO to appear for an oral caution following a complaint over his care of an elderly man who died nine days after minor elective surgery.

The 91-year-old patient, Michael Green, suffered a stroke on Aug. 10 last year, two days after Barkin performed a procedure known as a cystoscopy to dilate his urethra and unblock his bladder.

A decision by a CPSO committee that investigated a complaint by Green’s family identified problems with Barkin’s clinical care but did not say the urologist was responsible for the patient’s death.

In this case, Humber chief operating officer Barb Collins said Barkin had been forthcoming about the caution. But she did not answer repeated questions as to whether he was also forthcoming about a “previous history where the college has taken action with respect to prior clinical complaints,” which was referenced in the Green decision.

This history elevated the CPSO’s concerns about Barkin and contributed to its decision to orally caution him, “to avoid future difficulties.”

Humber said Barkin took a medical leave two weeks after the CPSO decision came down. He has also resigned as chief of staff, though it’s not quite clear when that happened.

The CPSO and some other self-regulatory colleges are in the midst of a “transparency project” aimed at giving patients more information about their health professionals. The CPSO is looking at posting on its public online register whether doctors have received oral cautions, have been ordered to take continuing education courses or have signed “undertakings,” for example to cease practising or to abide by practice restrictions.

Some critics — such as NDP health critic France Gelinas and medical malpractice lawyer Paul Harte — say the proposals for more transparency do not go far enough. At the very least, hospitals should be made aware of when doctors have run into trouble with the CPSO.

It would be easy enough to make this happen, they say. When doctors apply annually to renew their privileges to work at hospitals, they must submit proof from the CPSO that they are licensed to work in Ontario. They should also be required to submit to hospitals printouts of their history from the CPSO, Gelinas and Harte say.

(Currently, the CPSO only posts online whether doctors are scheduled for disciplinary hearings and whether those hearings have made findings of misconduct on incompetence. Disciplinary hearings are held for the most egregious of complaints — for example, very serious medical errors or abuse.)

Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said he’s buoyed that the regulatory colleges are looking to make more information about health professionals available to patients.

“I understand that the CPSO is working with other health regulatory colleges on an initiative to make more information — including cautions — available to the public through their website. I have faith that the CPSO will continue to give careful consideration to this difficult question and I will be watching their work on this subject with interest,” he said in a statement.

“Ultimately, we remain absolutely committed to a transparent and accountable health care system and we will work with our partners to closely examine ways to build on this record,” Hoskins added.


Source: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2014/07/29/hospitals_want_to_know_about_all_complaints_against_mds_nurses.html