CANDOR - A Patient Safety, Medical Liability, and Healthcare Professional Wellness Program

Abstract

The Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) program, a patient safety, medicolegal, and healthcare professional wellness program, has been implemented or in the process of being implemented in over 800 US hospitals. The program was designed to help patients suffering from unexpected adverse outcomes and healthcare professionals whose patients experience injury while under their care. The CANDOR program’s basic premise emphasizes honesty in medical error situations. It aims to prevent the recurrence of medical errors. Studies have found that, compared to the common US practice known as “Deny, Delay, and Defend,” using CANDOR not only benefits current and future patients but can improve the well-being of healthcare professionals. This paper therefore aimed to describe CANDOR and evidence regarding its effects on patients and the healthcare professional’s well-being at hospitals that implemented it in comparison to their previous practice of “Deny, Delay, and Defend.” This paper describes methods used by CANDOR teams, which include physicians, attorneys, patient advocates, and health policy leaders, in their successful endeavor to persuade hospital leaders to implement it, in essence to change the hospital’s culture from a culture of opaqueness regarding medical errors and their consequences to a culture embracing transparency. This paper also describes obstacles the teams faced in their endeavor to implement CANDOR at their institution and how they surmounted the obstacles.