[Answered]: You are a health care administrator directing a…

You are a health care administrator directing a patient safety department at an area hospital and you have just received a phone call from a resident in the pediatric cardiology unit with a complaint about an incompetent physician, Dr. Delmonico. Dr. Delmonico, age 75, has been a physician at the hospital for over 45 years. He is the Director of the Pediatric Heart Center where he oversees multi-million-dollar research studies on pediatric cardiology, in addition to seeing patients in the cardiac ICU unit one day per week. Dr. Mitchell, a resident, says that, although always a diligent physician in the past, lately Dr. Delmonico has been exhibiting unusual behaviors that may be impacting patient care. In addition to Dr. Delmonico sometimes loudly and inappropriately interrupting the morning rounds, Nurse Anderson noticed that Dr. Delmonico mixed up to patients and almost have one a medicine she was allergic to, while Dr. Mitchell has noticed that Dr. Delmonico forgot to attend clinic several times in the past few months. While Mitchell covered for Dr. Delmonico’s absence and tool on his patient load the first several times, this last time he brought his concerns to the Chief of Cardiology, Dr. Sears, but he hasn’t heard back from him yet about what action will be taken. You phone up Dr. Sears to ask for his thoughts. Dr. Sears says he is sympathetic to Mitchell’s concern, but ultimately there is nothing to be done because Dr. Delmonico is well-respected, brings a lot of money into the institution with his research, and the unit is understaffed as it is. Additionally, he says that physicians need to look out for one another- Dr. Delmonico has worked hard at this hospital and we shouldn’t turn our backs on him.