Courage Lives Here
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A Year in Review 2012 – 2013: Corporate Support
Education
Courage is...
overcoming
weakness
Surgical mistakes: Doctor creates
‘slowing down’ phenomenon
What does it mean to have courage in Education? For
UHN’s Dr. Carol-anne Moulton, “courage” means asking
difficult questions. Challenging assumptions. Speaking
up when others may not have had the courage to do the
same.
Moulton is a hepatobiliary surgeon and scientist at the
Wilson Centre for Research in Education.
Her research has focused on surgical judgement. She’s
looked at the reasons why surgeons — experts in
particular — “get into trouble” in the operating room.
“The more we do something, the more automatic and
routine it becomes... But occasionally you might find
you’ve done something stupid because you’ve kind of
drifted into that kind of automatic mode and are not
paying attention,” she said.
Dr. Carol-anne Moulton says some surgeons may not speak up about a mistake because they
worry about their reputation or appearing uncertain. Her courage to speak up about the issue is
making an impact.
(Photo: UHN)
Reputation, time pressures
Moulton says surgeons may not speak up about
a mistake because they’re worried about their reputation
or about appearing uncertain. Others are conflicted by
time pressures, teaching expectations, fatigue and other
competing priorities.
Her courage to draw attention to the important issue is
making an impact.
“It’s the ability to know when you’re in trouble and to
slow down at the right time,” she said.
Moulton’s efforts have focused on identifying crucial
points of surgical procedures, flagging them to surgeons
as key “slowing down” moments, and pushing to have
the “slowing down” phenomenon become part of educa-
tional curriculum.
By pioneering a new field of educational research, she’s
creating better teachers, better learners and better
patient care.
(
Continued on page 52...)
‘Courage’means asking difficult questions
VIDEO:
Studying surgical mistakes
Dr. Carol-anne Moulton knows mistakes happen in the operating room. Her research on
surgical judgement is helping to educate surgeons and future surgeons on how mistakes
can be avoided.
(Video: UHN)
