Delivering superb patient care, staying current in one's field, and running the administrative aspects of an office or institution are challenging enough without adding the fear and risk of malpractice.

  The fear of malpractice changes behaviors in many negative ways. Tests are often ordered defensively, causing increased patient risk and cost, and caregivers interact differently with patients where malpractice is felt to be a concern..... (In fact, the typical ways that errors are handled in real life usually increase the risk of litigation.)

  The relationship between the patient and the physician plays a critical role, first and foremost, in the delivery of excellent patient care and patient outcomes. It is also an integral component of malpractice risk. Effective communication forms the foundation of strong patient-physician relationships.

  A strong patient-physician relationship, built on a foundation of effective communication, plays the most critical role in delivering superb patient care and achieving excellent patient outcomes. This relationship also plays a crucial role in ameliorating or heightening malpractice risk.

  While clinicians focus on errors as the source of malpractice risk, malpractice is much more a function of bad relationships between patients and clinicians, and much less about bad outcomes. The ways in which clinicians approach (or don't approach) bad outcomes in a clinical situation plays a critical role in the likelihood of litigation.

  Conscientiously applying a few basic communication principles can produce far-reaching and dramatic improvements on many levels. You can not only reduce your risk of malpractice, you can also improve clinical outcomes, increase patient satisfaction, and improve patients' adherence to treatment regimens -- and do it all in less time and with greater ease than you're most likely doing now.

  Education is the key to reducing malpractice risk in the first place, and of managing risk once litigation has started. Malpractice risk reduction requires the education of patients, caregivers, and administrators.

  Through a variety of courses and workshops, Odyssey offers education in two critical areas of malpractice risk -- reducing overall risk of being sued, and, once sued, enhancing the ability of those involved to present themselves effectively at deposition and on the witness stand.