Malpractice knowledge, attitudes, and practices among physicians at a University Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physicians regarding medical malpractice at King Khalid University Hospital To assess the possible factors that affect malpractice knowledge, attitudes, and practices among physicians. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital between November and March 2019. Both medical and surgical physicians were included. A convenience sampling technique was used with a sample size of 336. The questionnaire contains four sections: demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Results: A total of 293 out of 336 questionnaires were returned giving a response rate of 87.2%. The comparison of the levels of knowledge of the respondents for each form of malpractice showed a statistically significant correlation with gender where female high knowledge score was 73 (62.9%) and male high knowledge score was 50 (35.5%). Another variable that showed statistical significance is specialty where medical specialty doctors scored 81 (54.7%) high knowledge, surgery doctors scored 25 (34.7%) high knowledge, and other specialties scored 17 (45.9%) high knowledge. Other variables showed no statistical significance. About the other two outcome variables, both attitudes and practice showed no statistically significant correlation with all included study variables. Conclusion: The research results show good and bad aspects. The overall knowledge among physicians was good. Moreover, there was no significant difference in knowledge among physicians from different rankings, nor among physicians with different years of experience. Regarding attitude and practice, the results showed no statistical significance. Overall these results can contribute to the quality of healthcare.