Do House Officers Learn From Their Mistakes

To the Editor. —The article by Wu et al 1 raises two important issues that need further discussion. One issue is about residents taking responsibility for their mistakes and the involvement of the attending physician. The second issue concerns the possible consequences of withholding information about mistakes from the involved patients or their families. I am encouraged that 88% of residents spoke with somebody about their mistakes. However, I find it very unsatisfactory that only 54% of residents actually discussed their mistakes with their attending physicians. We cannot expect residents to accept responsibility for their mistakes unless the attending physicians or the institution teaches them to do so. An interesting question is why the residents did not discuss their mistakes with their attending physicians. Is it because the residents thought or believed that the attending physicians would not be supportive of them? I agree with Wu et al that residents