Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran
Awareness of the occurrence of medical errors is the right of patients and duty of the health service providers. This study was conducted to evaluate to what extent people want to know the occurrence of an error in their medical care, what they expect to be disclosed about medical error, and what ar...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Tehran University of Medical Sciences
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jmehm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jmehm/article/view/348 |
| _version_ | 1818562623812141056 |
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| author | Akram Heidari Masoomeh Razaghi Fariba Asghari |
| author_facet | Akram Heidari Masoomeh Razaghi Fariba Asghari |
| author_sort | Akram Heidari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Awareness of the occurrence of medical errors is the right of patients and duty of the health service providers. This study was conducted to evaluate to what extent people want to know the occurrence of an error in their medical care, what they expect to be disclosed about medical error, and what are the influential factors in filing a lawsuit against physicians in disclosed medical errors from their point of view.
In this cross-sectional survey, 1062 people residing in the city of Qom, Iran, were telephone interviewed using the random digit dialing method. The questionnaire used consisted of 4 demographic questions and 2 scenarios of major and minor medical error; the participants were asked if the physician should disclose the error in each scenario. The questionnaire also consisted of 16 questions about other issues related to error disclosure. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software.
About 99.1% of the study population believed that errors had to be disclosed to patients. They all wished to know that measures would be taken to prevent further errors. Moreover, 93.1% of the participants expected an explanation on the incident. As for the factors that decreased the likelihood of taking legal action against the physician from the viewpoint of the study population, treatment of the complications (96.1%) and honesty of the physician (95.8%) had the highest frequency.
Based on the considerable preference of patients for error disclosure, it is recommended that physicians disclose all minor and major errors sympathetically and with transparency, honesty, and efforts to prevent future errors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:06:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a9422c6a4a4b45a69170d5bd2111b08a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2008-0387 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:06:12Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Tehran University of Medical Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-a9422c6a4a4b45a69170d5bd2111b08a2022-12-21T23:22:58ZengTehran University of Medical SciencesJournal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine2008-03872018-08-0111Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in IranAkram Heidari0Masoomeh Razaghi1Fariba Asghari2Assistant Professor Spiritual Health Research Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.Researcher Spiritual Health Research Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.Associate Professor Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.Awareness of the occurrence of medical errors is the right of patients and duty of the health service providers. This study was conducted to evaluate to what extent people want to know the occurrence of an error in their medical care, what they expect to be disclosed about medical error, and what are the influential factors in filing a lawsuit against physicians in disclosed medical errors from their point of view. In this cross-sectional survey, 1062 people residing in the city of Qom, Iran, were telephone interviewed using the random digit dialing method. The questionnaire used consisted of 4 demographic questions and 2 scenarios of major and minor medical error; the participants were asked if the physician should disclose the error in each scenario. The questionnaire also consisted of 16 questions about other issues related to error disclosure. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software. About 99.1% of the study population believed that errors had to be disclosed to patients. They all wished to know that measures would be taken to prevent further errors. Moreover, 93.1% of the participants expected an explanation on the incident. As for the factors that decreased the likelihood of taking legal action against the physician from the viewpoint of the study population, treatment of the complications (96.1%) and honesty of the physician (95.8%) had the highest frequency. Based on the considerable preference of patients for error disclosure, it is recommended that physicians disclose all minor and major errors sympathetically and with transparency, honesty, and efforts to prevent future errors.https://jmehm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jmehm/article/view/348Medical errorDisclosureConsumer preferences |
| spellingShingle | Akram Heidari Masoomeh Razaghi Fariba Asghari Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Medical error Disclosure Consumer preferences |
| title | Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran |
| title_full | Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran |
| title_fullStr | Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran |
| title_full_unstemmed | Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran |
| title_short | Public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors: a survey in Iran |
| title_sort | public preferences and attitudes towards the disclosure of medical errors a survey in iran |
| topic | Medical error Disclosure Consumer preferences |
| url | https://jmehm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jmehm/article/view/348 |
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