Socio-Demographic, Professional and Institutional Characteristics That Make Romanian Doctors More Prone to Malpractice Complaints

Abstract

Background and objectives: Medical malpractice is a phenomenon that shadows current medical practice, the number of complaints following an upward trend worldwide. The background for complaints is related both to the doctor and medical practice in general, as well as to the patient. The aim of this study was to identify a profile of the Romanian doctors who are more prone to receiving complaints, by analyzing the socio-demographic, professional and institutional characteristics. Materials and Methods: We conducted a quantitative, prospective research, the data being collected using a newly developed questionnaire. Data analysis was performed with the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 24). We used counts, percentages, means and standard deviation, and comparative and correlational analyses. A logistic regression model was applied to select a statistically best-fit model to identify independent predictors for receiving complaints; a Hosmer–Lemeshow test was used to check the performance of the prediction model. Results: The study group consisted of 1684 doctors, of which 16.1% had been involved in a malpractice complaint. Results showed that men, senior doctors from surgical specialties who perform a greater number of on-call shifts, those who work in regional or county hospitals, those who have greater fear of receiving complaints and those whose life partner is a doctor with the same specialty are more prone to receiving complaints. Conclusions: The profile identified by the present research underlines the main characteristics that could be targeted with specific measures in order to prevent the ongoing increase of malpractice complaints in Romania.