When I first got interested in reviewing medical malpractice cases, one of the best resources I found was the book Bouncebacks! Emergency Department Cases: ED Returns, by Michael B. Weinstock and Ryan Longstreth. As a resident I devoured the book and found many clinical pearls that made me a better doctor. Dr. Weinstock kindly provided a copy of the 10th anniversary edition, which was just released in 2018.
The book includes 31 cases that depict Emergency Medicine cases in which a patient suffered a bad outcome or had an unexpected bounceback to the ED. Each chapter follows a similar structure:
- Documentation of the initial visit. This includes the patient’s chief complaint, history, review of systems, exam, testing, results, disposition and medical decision-making.
- Commentary on the patient’s presentation and care by Dr. Gregory Henry. Any outstanding concerns or issues are addressed here, before seeing the bad outcome. A score of 0-10 is assigned to the “Thoroughness of Documentation” and “Thoroughness of Patient Evaluation”. Each case is labeled as low, moderate or high risk in regards to bad medical outcome as well as bad legal outcome
- Documentation from the bounceback visit. Full documentation by the ED physician is shown, as well as any relevant information from consultants, the hospital course, or autopsy.
- An invited expert then gives a discussion of the case. The patient’s disease process is reviewed, with recommendations for approaching similar patients in your practice. At the end of each chapter are a handful of brief learning points to help the reader remember the most important pearls.
This book is one of the best resources in existence for learning from bad outcomes in the ED. It does an excellent job of illustrating key medical concepts that will make you a better doctor. The cases are presented in a format that is easy to understand. One interesting feature is that some aspects of the patient exams are copied verbatim between cases. For example, the nose exam is documented as “The nose is normal in appearance without rhinorrhea” in many of the cases. Either the same doctor was the source of these cases or this template is being used extensively by many physicians.
One of the strengths of this book is that it reviews both common pitfalls in Emergency Medicine, as well as some uncommon diseases that are not frequently seen. Learning from the mistakes of other doctors will help you avoid similar errors, the pain of bad outcomes and litigation. If readers enjoy reviewing MedMalReviewer cases, I have no doubt they will also enjoy Bouncebacks.
Link to purchase: Bouncebacks! Emergency Department Cases: ED Returns
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