Medical law has a direct impact on the daily work of doctors, medical staff and people responsible for patient service. It is during registration, providing information, obtaining consent or keeping records that situations most often arise in which you need to know not only what the law says, but above all how to act correctly in practice.

Our firm provides specialist medical law training for clinics, outpatient centres, practices and other healthcare providers. Our training is aimed both at doctors and other medical staff and at reception and administrative staff and facility managers.

We tailor the programme to the type of facility and the problems its team actually faces every day.

What training do we offer?

The training may cover, among other things:

• patient rights in the daily work of the facility,
• proper keeping of medical records,
• making records available to patients and authorised persons,
• rules for providing information about a patient’s health,
• properly obtaining consent to treatment and procedures,
• the doctor’s duty to inform,
• civil and criminal liability of medical staff,
• protection of patients’ personal data,
• handling complaints,
• responding to patient claims,
• preparing the facility for an inspection,
• the most common legal mistakes made by medical facilities.

We can also prepare training devoted to a specific problem that occurs in a given clinic.

Patient rights in practice

Knowledge of patient rights should not be limited to knowing the law.

Much more practical questions arise in daily work: who can be given information about a patient’s health? What should you do when a family member asks for the records? What should you do when a patient refuses treatment? When should consent be in writing? How should you respond to a conflict with a patient?

During the training, we discuss such situations using specific examples, showing how staff should behave in practice and what to pay particular attention to.

Medical records

Improperly kept records may become a serious problem only when a patient complaint, an inspection or court proceedings arise.

That is why our training pays particular attention to how records are kept and the significance of individual entries.

We also discuss:

• rules for making records available,
• patient authorisations,
• access to records by close relatives,
• correcting incorrect entries,
• securing records,
• the significance of records in the event of a patient claim.

Well-kept records protect not only the patient, but also the doctor and the facility itself.

Patient consent and the duty to inform

A signature on a consent form alone does not always mean that the facility has properly fulfilled its obligations.

It also matters what information the patient received before the procedure or the start of treatment and whether they were able to make an informed decision.

During the training we discuss, among other things:

• when patient consent is required,
• in what form it should be given,
• what information should be provided to the patient,
• how to document that information was provided,
• how to proceed with a minor patient,
• what to do if consent to treatment is refused.

We pay particular attention to the mistakes that in practice most often later become the basis for allegations against the doctor or facility.

How should you respond to a patient’s complaint or claim?

The facility’s first reaction can be very important for the further course of the case.

An emotional response, ill-considered correspondence or failure to secure the records can unnecessarily make a later defence more difficult.

During the training we show staff how to act from the moment a complaint, a demand for payment or information about a possible claim is received.

We discuss, among other things:

• to whom the matter should be passed,
• which documents to secure,
• how to communicate with the patient,
• what to avoid in correspondence,
• when to notify the insurer,
• how to prepare the facility for further proceedings.

The point is for staff to know how to respond calmly and according to a previously agreed procedure.

Liability of doctors and medical staff

One of the training topics may also be liability related to practising a medical profession.

We explain the differences between liability that is:

• civil,
• criminal,
• professional,
• and the liability of the healthcare provider itself.

We do not focus only on theory. We show what situations in practice may lead to proceedings and what significance the documentation, the facility’s procedures and the way staff act then have.

Training for reception and administration

A patient’s contact with the facility often begins and ends at reception. Administrative staff have access to patient data, provide information, accept requests for records and deal with conflict situations.

That is why we can also prepare training specifically for reception and medical administration staff.

The programme then focuses mainly on the situations this part of the team faces every day – without unnecessarily discussing issues that concern only doctors.

Training tailored to the specific clinic

Not every facility needs the same training.

Different problems arise in a dental practice, in an aesthetic medicine clinic and in a large facility employing many specialists.

That is why, before the training, we establish what kind of services are provided in the facility, who will attend the session and which issues the team finds most difficult.

On this basis, we select the programme and examples.

We can also base the training on problems identified earlier during a legal audit of the facility.

Practice instead of a lecture on the law

Medical law training should above all help in daily work.

That is why we discuss real situations that healthcare providers face and mistakes that arise in disputes with patients.

Our experience in handling medical liability cases allows us to show participants not only what the law requires, but also what significance a specific mistake may later have during an inspection or court proceedings.

Participants can also ask questions about situations occurring in their own facility.

On-site and online training

We can deliver training:

• on site,
• online,
• for the whole team,
• for a selected group of employees,
• individually.

The form and length of the training are agreed depending on the needs of the facility and the scope of the issues discussed.

It is also possible to prepare separate sessions for medical staff, administration and clinic managers.

Training as part of the facility’s legal security

Some legal problems in medical facilities do not result from a lack of procedures, but from staff not knowing how to apply them in a specific situation.

That is why preparing documents alone is not always enough.

A well-trained team knows how to respond when an unusual situation, a patient complaint or a risk of dispute arises.

Our aim is to pass on knowledge that participants can use immediately after the training. As a result, training becomes not only a form of education, but also one of the elements of reducing legal risk in the facility’s day-to-day operations.