2012

Sooner or later, almost every resident is going to consider working a few hours a week in a setting completely separate from his or her training program. But we also know that some doctors in salaried employment (academia, government agencies, administrative positions, etc.)  want to moonlight in clinical work. In our experience, many “moonlighters” don’t plan for covering thei ...

(At least about liability insurance.) I have mentioned more than once that while PRMS staff always welcomes the opportunity to speak to groups of psychiatrists in all stages of practice, we particularly welcome the chance to speak with residents. We believe that good advice early in one’s career can ease the transition to practice, reduce the anxiety that it creates, and help t ...

Professional education of all kinds today (medicine, law, accounting, etc.) is focused on providing students with exposure to the professional information they need to succeed. Unfortunately, there’s little time left to expose them to the very practical information they need to use their expertise to make a living. For example, many lawyers, after three years in law school, bar ...

Very definitely yes, but not in the usual way. This year, the APA advised PRMS that we would not be able to exhibit at the Annual Meeting. But we will be in Philadelphia to meet with our current customers, provide risk management education, and talk to prospective customers about our services. We have posted our full schedule of events on our website. Note that we have two Risk ...

PRMS has been in its current location for 13 years. A few years ago, having outgrown the space we originally occupied at 1515 Wilson Boulevard, we took a short-term lease on some additional space on a different floor to house our growing Risk Management department. Our intent, however, was to find suitable space where our entire staff could be accommodated on the same floor onc ...

Several of us at PRMS were talking the other day about the number of violent incidents in just the past few weeks where the alleged perpetrator was said to be mentally ill. Perhaps it’s our professional sensitivity to news events involving the mentally ill, or it could be that we’re located in Virginia and the negligence trial against Virginia Tech, arising from the mass murder ...

Converting from paper to electronic health records may clear out some office clutter; however, doing so will not, on its own, improve patient care and safety. Electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information technology come with their own set of safety issues. For example, EHR systems that do not fit well within the workflow of your office or facility are of great ...

One of the hallmarks of an expert is that he or she makes the work look easy. We’ve all had the experience of watching a professional athlete and thinking, “With a little practice, anybody could do that.” Or you watch a roofer working on your neighbor’s house and think “He gets paid $150 an hour just to pound nails. That’s so easy.” Watching an expert cook is the worst, because ...

The issue of potential boundary violations surrounding chat rooms is a risk concern because avoiding inappropriate relationships can be more difficult with cyberspace interactions than with face-to-face interactions. The use of pseudonyms may also lead to an inability to recognize patients online. An additional risk is the increased potential for sexual misunderstandings in onl ...

We have been working diligently to finalize plans for all of our risk management programs for 2012. I’m pleased to announce that it is finally done! Who knew it would take so long to finalize plans for just six events! We hope you can join us for at least one – April 4, 2012: 4 CME hour course in Philadelphia, PA April 9, 2012: 4 CME hour course in Philadelphia, PA (repeat of c ...