Webinar to debate unethical conduct by doctors

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), in partnership with Imperial College London, will host a webinar tomorrow to discuss concerns surrounding unprofessional behaviour by some doctors who pose an unacceptable risk to patient safety.The webinar forms part of the ‘Safer Care Accelerator’ series by Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN), a WISH initiative which shares best practice and inspires health systems worldwide to provide safer care for patients. The initiative is in line with QF’s vision to reinforce Qatar’s pioneering role as an emerging centre for healthcare innovation while unlocking human potential.Dr Kevin Stewart, clinical director of the Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit at the Royal College of Physicians, will lead the webinar entitled, ‘Unprofessional behaviour: An unacceptable risk to patient safety’. The webinar will reveal that although a vast majority of doctors behave to the highest professional standards there is clear evidence to suggest a link between unprofessional behaviour and medical errors. The seminar will focus on the key challenges facing health systems and it will attempt to determine what is regarded as unprofessional behaviour and to understand its detrimental effects on patients. There will also be a discussion on the best approaches to dealing with such behaviour, which has been found to also be demonstrated by some nurses and managers, in a bid to promote better practices. Dr Stewart said: “Our aim is to analyse the evidence we have seen that shows unprofessional behaviour practiced by a minority of doctors can indeed be closely linked to patient harm. Although there are likely to be some differences between specialties and between healthcare systems what evidence exists seems to indicate similar patterns.”