We’ve compiled some essential advice you need to know about protecting yourself online. The article looks into cases and GMC guidance around online activity and social media, with key things you need to know as a student doctor.

The new Complaints Handling Procedure places an emphasis on empowering all staff to resolve issues “on-the-spot” where they can. You also have to make sure you record all complaints, even those resolved efficiently. Sara Dawson explores all the changes below

Dr Aaron Madhok reflects on his time working in Africa

Poor communication between doctors lies at the heart of many complaints, claims and disciplinary actions. Dr Mark Dinwoodie, Medical Protection’s Director of Education, explains the importance of maintaining good relationships with colleagues and communicating effectively with other health professionals

Foundation doctors are increasingly using social media and smartphone apps to communicate with each other and senior colleagues. While this has many advantages, there are pitfalls to consider. Dr James Thorpe, Medicolegal Adviser at Medical Protection, investigates.

Learning From Events

With more than 300 million patients consulting with primary care teams annually it’s unfortunately inevitable that a proportion will suffer some form of unintentional harm, mostly of low to moderate severity. Research has suggested that around 1-2% of consultations in primary care are associated with an adverse event. The cost of harm – to patients, to those working in healthcare, and to productivity – is significant.

Whether it’s a revised piece of GMC guidance, or a Bill going through the Scottish Parliament, we use our expertise to inform debates about changes that could affect your practice.

Unemployment reduces wellbeing. Recession raises the demands on healthcare systems and makes it harder to pay for them. Doctors worldwide are having to adapt and change to cope with these additional pressures, says Sarah Whitehouse

Consent is a fundamental principle of medical law. The basic rule is simple: no-one has the right to touch anyone else without lawful excuse and if doctors do so it may well undermine patients’ trust.

I wake up bolt upright at 5.30am. I look in the mirror and realise I’ve inadvertently left my false eyelashes on from the previous day’s telly. They hang rather precariously from my upper lids – my mascara is half way down my cheeks and my hair is doing a good impersonation of Jedward. My husband rolls over and states that I look like a drag queen and promptly falls back to sleep.

Today’s doctors are working in a constantly evolving environment, where many of the old expectations regarding the role of doctors, nurses and patients are being replaced by new ones. The roles themselves are changing – doctors are clinicians, leaders, teachers, managers, commissioners and purchasers of services.

Any doctor who specialises in a particular field would be expected to keep up-todate in that area. This would apply to all fields of medicine. Surgeons with a special interest would be expected to keep up-to-date with developments both in the field of general surgery and their area of special interest.

Good Medical Practice advises doctors that they must be honest and trustworthy when signing forms, reports and other documents. It also requires doctors to make sure that any documents they write or sign are not false or misleading

Patient A: I’ve got a very good GP now, I have got a GP who actually knows what fibromyalgia is, he’s prepared just to sit and listen, he listens a lot, he’ll let me try new medications, obviously because of my science background I probably know more about fibromyalgia than he does because I read so much in research papers, but he’s very willing to let me be a guinea pig and to work with me, which I think is important with a doctor/patient relationship, you’ve got to work on this path of chronic pain together.

Sometimes, when an adverse incident occurs, the GMC can take action if a doctor’s fitness to practise is called into question, which could be due to:

It is one of the great ironies that healthcare professionals are, generally, poor at taking care of their own health. Yet it is one of the core set of guidelines in Good Medical Practice that you have a responsibility to look after your health - if not for your own sake, then at least for your patients.