US doctors and public disagree over mandatory reporting of errors

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US doctors and public disagree over mandatory reporting of errors

Janice Hopkins Tanne, New York

 

The US public is much more concerned about the quality and safety of health

care than doctors are, says a new study.

 

Three years ago a report from the Institute of Medicine estimated that

medical errors killed 44000 to 98000 Americans every year (BMJ

1999;319:1519)[Free Full Text]. A new study by Dr Andrew Robinson and

colleagues at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver

looked at how doctors and the public felt about medical errors after the

report was widely publicised (Archives of Internal Medicine

2002;162:2186-90)[Medline].

 

They surveyed 1000 doctors in Colorado and 1000 doctors nationwide by mail

and 610 Colorado households by telephone. Only 29% of doctors thought that

the quality of medical care in the United States was a problembut 68% of

households were concerned. In an apparent contradiction of their feeling

that quality was good, 70% of doctors felt that reducing medical errors

should be a national priority, as did 86% of patients. Nearly all doctors

wanted more training in how to handle medical errors.

 

The Institute of Medicine's report suggested the mandatory reporting of

medical errors through a national agency. Almost 60% of the households

surveyed thought this was a good idea, but only 24% of the Colorado doctors

agreed. The figure for doctors nationwide was higher, at 32%

 

The lead author, Dr Andrew Robinson, said that doctors saw problems in the

mandatory reporting of medical errors. There is no definition of an error,

he said.

 

US doctors were also reluctant to report errors or adverse events because of

malpractice suits. About 35% of the doctors surveyed had been involved in

such suits. Doctors felt that greater legal safeguards would be needed for a

mandatory reporting system to succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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© BMJ 2002

 

 

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Collections under which this article appears:

Patient safety / Clinical risk / Medical error