Defensive Medicine in General Surgery: a Questionnaire Study in Turkey

This study investigated the effects of defensive medicine on the practice of physicians in general surgery Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions titled “Defensive Medicine in General Surgery” was administered to 229 physicians in general surgery by e-mail. The responses were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: All variables with a statistically significant effect on defensive medicine during univariate analysis were included as candidate factors in multivariate linear regression analysis of defensive medicine. The tendency to adopt defensive medicine practices decreased significantly with an increasing total number of operations performed annually. With increasing degree of regret about working as a general surgeon and increasing scores concerning predictive attitude knowledge-based factors, the tendency to adopt defensive medicine practices also increased significantly. There were no significant correlations between other demographic characteristics and the tendency to adopt defensive medicine practices. Conclusion: Detailed studies on determinant factors identified in this study may aid in resolving problems concerning defensive medicine. Keywords: defensive medicine, general surgery, Turkey

Anahtar Kelimeler:

defensive medicine, general surgery, Turkey

Defensive Medicine in General Surgery: a Questionnaire Study in Turkey

Keywords:

defensive medicine, general surgery, Turkey,

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