DOI: 10.36347/sasjs.2020.v06i04.002

Pages: 166-174

Introduction: Defensive medicine is defined as medical practices performed by physicians for diagnosing and treating their patients to protect themselves from the risk of criminal or civil actions. The use of defensive medicine is frequently discussed all over the world due to consequent judicial processes and accompanying costs. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate defensive medicine in general surgery, which is considered to be associated with a high risk of medical malpractice suits. Method: The study was designed as a cross-sectional descriptive study. The universe of the study comprised faculty members, specialists, and resident physicians working in the Trauma and Emergency Surgery Outpatient Clinic and General Surgery Department of Istanbul University, School of Medicine. The 'Defensive Medicine Behavior Scale' (DMBS) developed by Başer et al. was selected as a tool to collect study data[1]. The data were collected in face-to-face interviews in January 2018. Results: Thirty-nine physicians participated in the study (n: 39). The mean age of the participants was 35.92 ± 11.34 years (min: 25, max: 66). Of the participants, 79% were males and 20.5% were females. The mean DMBS score was 43.30 ± 9.19 (min: 22, max: 66). Of the participants; 76.9% reported that they heard about the concept of defensive medicine previously, 97.4% reported that defensive medicine negatively affect the performance of physicians, and 56.4% reported that they were not adequately knowledgeable. A statistically significant association was found between the knowledge level of surgeons and defensive medicine (p: 0.006). Discussion: It was found out that the participating physicians practiced defensive medicine at moderate levels and that the knowledge level of physicians; who practiced defensive medicine more commonly, were high. The concept of defensive medicine is still very new in our country; therefore, we are of the opinion that it should be discussed more commonly in the.........