Knowledge Of the Most Common Causes of Malpractice Among Medical Practitioners and Nurses at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu, South East, Nigeria
Abstract
Aim; To assess the most common causes of litigation among medical practitioners and nurses at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu, South East, Nigeria Method; A total of 300 heath care workers comprising 274 medical doctors and 26 Nurses working with the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTTH) were studied during the period February to June 2021. Their age, marital status and number of years of practice were taken. They were questioned on their knowledge of the main causes of litigation in medical practice. Results; 150 (50%) of the participants agree and strongly agree that Medical error is due to Inexperienced health care providers. 234 (78%) of participants agree and strongly agree that Medical error is due to reduced healthcare providers to patients` ratio. While 201(67%) agree and strongly agree that medical errors are largely due negligence by healthcare providers. Conclusion; The results show that the greatest proportion of medical errors (78%) is due to the reduced health care provider to patient ratio. This factor puts so much workload on the health care providers with the result that fatigue and “burn out” creates an ever increasing opportunity for medical errors to occur. It is therefore a very good idea that the Nigerian government is working hard to address the problem by rolling out a National policy on Health Care work force which when implemented may address this problem of emigration of highly qualified health care personnel outside the country.
