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Physicians' Attitudes Toward Defensive Medicine and Medical Errors in Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Study
Ardacan Uyğur1, Abdullah Ozan Polat1, Okcan Basat1
1Health Sciences University Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital, Family Medicine Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey.
Rationale:
Medical errors represent a major issue for healthcare professionals. Although they may not always cause direct harm to patients, timely reporting of such errors is an important step in improving safety and reducing malpractice risk. As the number of these lawsuits rises, physicians often resort to defensive medicine practices.
Aims And Objectives:
The aim of this study is to evaluate the attitudes, behaviours and knowledge levels of physicians working in palliative care services with resprect to defensive medicine.
Method:
This multicenter, cross-sectional and analytical study, 110 physicians working in the Palliative Care Service participated in the study between 01.10.2023 and 31.10.2023. Demographic information, defensive medicine attitude scale and medical error attitude scale were applied to the participants.
Results:
Sixty-two of the participants were female and 48 were male. Based on the data, 5.5% of the participants had a moderate, 64.5% had a high, and 30.0% had a very high level of defensive medicine attitudes. Resident physicians rated their defensive medicine attitude with higher scores than specialist physicians. In addition, physicians with less than 5 years of experience have higher positive defensive medicine scores. There is a significant relationship between age and the medical error attitude scale score. Most of the participants received palliative care training, but they stated that they did not have sufficient knowledge about defensive medicine.
Conclusion:
Although the defensive medicine scores of the participants are high, additional training is necessary to close the gaps in knowledge. There is also a promising situation in terms of medical error awareness.
Insights
Physicians in palliative care show high levels of defensive medicine attitudes, indicating a need for further education on defensive medicine despite good medical error awareness. This practice is more prevalent among residents and less experienced physicians.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Healthcare Policy
- Palliative Care Research
Background:
- Medical errors pose significant challenges for healthcare professionals, impacting patient safety and increasing malpractice risks.
- Physicians increasingly adopt defensive medicine practices in response to rising malpractice litigation.
- Timely reporting of medical errors is crucial for enhancing patient safety and mitigating legal risks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge regarding defensive medicine among palliative care physicians.
- To identify factors influencing defensive medicine practices in palliative care settings.
Main Methods:
- A multicenter, cross-sectional study involving 110 palliative care physicians.
- Data collection via demographic questionnaires, defensive medicine attitude scale, and medical error attitude scale.
- Analysis of attitudes and knowledge concerning defensive medicine and medical errors.
Main Results:
- A high prevalence of defensive medicine attitudes was observed, with 64.5% reporting high and 30.0% reporting very high levels.
- Resident physicians and those with less than 5 years of experience exhibited higher defensive medicine attitude scores.
- A significant correlation was found between physician age and medical error attitude scale scores, though knowledge of defensive medicine was insufficient.
Conclusions:
- Palliative care physicians demonstrate high defensive medicine attitudes, underscoring the need for targeted educational interventions to address knowledge gaps.
- Despite high defensive medicine scores, there is a positive outlook regarding medical error awareness within this physician group.
- Further training is recommended to improve understanding and practice related to defensive medicine in palliative care.
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