AMA Tasmania supports proactive doctors

AMA Tasmania is backing doctors at the Royal Hobart Hospital for being proactive in proposing to undertake a death audit.

AMA Tasmania calls on the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) senior management to work with openness and transparency when investigating clinician concerns regarding adverse patient outcomes due to hospital bed shortages or from any other identified cause.

The attempted portrayal by members of the THS Executive that a clinician led death audit would be ‘unethical research’ is absurd, indicating a lack of understanding by the THS of the role clinical staff must play in driving health care audit and quality assurance activities.

AMA Tasmania President Stuart Day said it was the Association’s view that clinician led audit of health care performance and mortality rates was a routine and important part of medical staff professional activity, and was needed to ensure improvement of health system performance.

“Proactive doctors should be empowered to understand indicators and investigate ways to improve the local and larger health systems they work in” Dr Day said.

“In this case it has been inferred there is unethical behaviour at play, in fact it is exactly the opposite.

“These ethical doctors are exactly what Tasmania’s health system needs.

“Hospital management should be supporting doctors to undertake normal audit processes in order to improve the care we provide to our patients – our main priority.”
AMA Tasmania President Stuart Day