| Theme: 8JJ Patient safety | |||
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| Experiences of medical errors a comparative study on younger and experienced doctors working in primary health care |
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Medical errors are a theme that provokes mixed experiences among doctors. Not much has been known about these experiences among Finnish doctors so far.
Of doctors, 165/244 responded (response rate 68%). The younger doctors (working experience ≤5y, n=85) experienced significantly more often fear of committing a medical error (70.2% vs. 48.1%, p=0.004), and admitted having committed a medical error during the past year more often than the experienced doctors (n=80) (83.5% vs. 68.8%, p=0.026). The younger doctors were also less prone to apologize to the patient about an error (44.7% vs. 65.0%, p=0.009). The younger doctors found on-site consultations and electronic databases more useful in avoiding mistakes than the experienced doctors.
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The objective was to study the differences in the experiences of medical errors of young and experienced doctors in primary care. In 2011 a survey was sent to a convenience sample of doctors working in primary care in Southern Finland. The questionnaire inquired about the views of the participants on tolerance of uncertainty and committing a medical error, how they cope with these issues and which factors influence their ability to avoid errors.
Medical errors are frequent, and are also feared by a large proportion of doctors. Coping with medical errors seems to improve with experience gained as a doctor. Means to support and ameliorate this process should be studied.
Arja Helin-Salmivaara, M.D., PhD, adjunct professor, has provided assistance by proofreading the manuscript.
Younger doctors do benefit from the possibility to consult more experienced colleagues on-site, and therefore a good tutoring system should be developed at every health center or group practice.
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