As physicians, most of us are wired for perfection. Face it, there are few professions that are expected to be 100% accurate 100% of the time. If you hire a gardener to plant 10 shrubs and one dies, you consider 90% a pretty good yield (and you replace the dead shrub if it is in a “noticeable” location). If you buy 2 dozen filled cupcakes and one has a little less filling or frosting, no big deal. But, as a physician in the course of patient care, if you miss a diagnosis, choose a wrong treatment, or misinterpret a test result, the outcome may be catastrophic. It is stressful. Not only can serious harm come to your patient for overlooking or blatantly missing subtle details, but medical liability can ruin a career (and one’s spirit).

As each year ends and another begins, January brings us many new things. The NFL playoffs, having to remember to write a different year when you date checks (for those of us that still do that), and Election Season! I’m not talking about the nasty and deceiving commercials that are already starting to assault us on TV and other media. I’m talking about the selection of our leaders throughout POMA.