Evaluation of Physicians' Views on Defensive Medicine Practices

Aim: Defensive medical applications are defined as medical behaviors of physicians to avoid malpractice cases. This study aims to evaluate physicians' views on defensive medicine practices. Methods: To determine the physicians' defensive medicine practices, permission was obtained from Duzce University Non-Interventional Ethics Committee and a questionnaire consisting of 2 sections was prepared with the help of the Google Forms application to be delivered to physicians working in the system via various internet networks. The first part of the questionnaire consists of age, gender, institution of employment, years of experience as a physician, demographic characteristics, including questions of expertise, and the second part consists of the Defensive Medicine Practices Attitude Scale. Results: A total of 356 physicians returned the questionnaire we sent. A total of 206 (57.9%) female and 150 (42.1%) male physicians with a mean age of 37.9±9.8 (24-64) participated in the study. The mean score of the physicians' attitude scale was 47.4±9.4 (17-69). While the attitude of defensive medical practices did not differ in terms of gender and the department studied, there was a significant difference between the institutions studied and titles. Conclusion: Our study results show that defensive medicine is pervasive in daily physician practice across all medical disciplines. Defensive medicine exposes patients to complications due to unnecessary tests and procedures, impacts the quality of care, and undermines doctor-patient relationships. Keywords: defensive medicine, malpractice, physicians