Evaluation of Family Physicians' Opinions in Defensive Medicine Practices: The Case of Isparta/Turkey

Objective: In this descriptive study, which questions the problems and perspectives faced by physicians about medical bad practices (malpractice), which are often heard today, information about the defensive medical practices of family physicians, it is aimed to determine their attitude and behavior. Methods: November-December 2020, the study was conducted on 77 physicians who worked as a family physician in Isparta/Turkey and accepted participation using the survey technique. Answers to questions Likert-type situation measurement expressions (fully agree, very agree, moderately agree, little agree, disagree at all) were used. In addition, yes-no options were used for questions that measure the level of knowledge. Results: As a result of the study, 18 (23%) of family physicians said they had not heard of the concept of defensive medicine before, 48 (62%) did not know enough about the content of the concept of defensive medicine practices, 5 (6%) were sued for malpractice, 37 (48%) said they thought any lawsuit could be filed within the next 10 years. As malpractice cases find a lot of space in the media, the proportion of family physicians who say they feel uneasy while performing my profession (59.7%-46 physicians) came first as the option with the largest percentage of attitude-measuring questions. Conclusions: The results of this study show that family physicians working in family health centers affiliated with the Ministry of Health are significantly focused on positive and negative defensive medicine practices.