의료오류 공개에 대한 대학생들의 태도 조사*

Object: The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes of patients regarding medical error.

Methods: The questionnaires were administrated to 145 college students in Busan, one hundred twenty three usable 123 questionnaires were analyzed. The questionnaires consist of 4 major concepts; 1) knowledge, 2) attitudes toward disclosure of medical error, 3) expectations for doctors' behaviors, 4) barriers to the disclosure of the medical error.

Results: Approximately 92% of respondents supported the immediate disclosure of medical errors, and 62.6% supported full disclosure including near misses. Approximately 57% believed that it would be most effective if doctors themselves communicated errors to patients, while almost 93% said that it was a doctor’s obligation to do so. Regarding reasons for disclosure, 44.7% said that it would reduce doctors’ feelings of guilt, while 45.5% said that it would also increase patient trust for doctors. Respondents also thought that the barriers to the full disclosure of medical errors were (1) damaged reputations (30.9%), (2) worries about medical lawsuits (22.8%), and (3) professional discipline (22.0%).

Conclusion: Most of the participants in this survey support the immediate disclosure of medical errors regardless of the seriousness of the error. Furthermore the participants regarded disclosure of medical error as doctors' obligation. In order to meet the patients' high expectation regarding the medical error, this might be a good time for us to find a way to close the gap between patients' expectation and doctors' current practice.