ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2007
Disclosing medical errors to patients: attitudes and practices of physicians and trainees.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Frequency, Expected Effects, Obstacles, and Facilitators of Disclosure of Patient Safety Incidents: A Systematic Review.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2017Pooled it
- Disclosing medical errors to patients: it's not what you say, it's what they hear.Journal of general internal medicine · 2009Trial
- Scenario-Based Ethical Reasoning Among Healthcare Trainees and Practitioners: Evidence from Dental and Medical Cohorts in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Recognition of medical error: It is not too late for an open disclosure - a narrative review.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Review
- When Things Go Wrong: A Guide to the Medical, Ethical, and Legal Dimensions of Surgical Complications.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2024Review
- The Relationship between Professional Identity, Performance and Attitude to Medical Errors Self-reporting among Medical Students.Journal of advances in medical education & professionalism · 2023Article
- Investigation of factors related to the behavior of reporting clinical errors in nurses working in educational and medical centers in Rasht city, Iran.BMC nursing · 2022Article
- Perception Gaps of Disclosure of Patient Safety Incidents Between Nurses and the General Public in Korea.Journal of patient safety · 2021Article
- The relationship between the perception of open disclosure of patient safety incidents, perception of patient safety culture, and ethical awareness in nurses.BMC medical ethics · 2020Article
- Disclosure of medical errors: physicians' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in an oncology center.BMC medical ethics · 2020Article
- Medical error professionals' perspectives on Inter-system Medical Error Discovery (IMED): Consensus, divergence, and uncertainty.Medicine · 2020Article
- Nurses' Experiences with Disclosure of Patient Safety Incidents: A Qualitative Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2020Article
- Policies vs Practice of Medical Error Disclosure at a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2020Article
- Article
- The Patient Perspective on Errors in Cancer Care: Results of a Cross-Sectional Survey.Journal of patient safety · 2019Article
- Does Medical Students' Personality Traits Influence Their Attitudes toward Medical Errors?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- A Cross-Specialty Examination of Resident Error Disclosure and Communication Skills Using Simulation.Journal of graduate medical education · 2018Article
- Characterizing Resident Preferences for Faculty Involvement and Support in Disclosing Medical Errors to Patients.Journal of graduate medical education · 2018Article
- Undergraduate medical students' behavioural intentions towards medical errors and how to handle them: a qualitative vignette study.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Complications: acknowledging, managing, and coping with human error.Translational andrology and urology · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDisclosing errors to patients is an important part of patient care, but the prevalence of disclosure, and factors affecting it, are poorly understood.
objectiveTo survey physicians and trainees about their practices and attitudes regarding error disclosure to patients. DESIGN AND
participantsSurvey of faculty physicians, resident physicians, and medical students in Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions of the United States. MEASUREMENTS: Actual error disclosure; hypothetical error disclosure; attitudes toward disclosure; demographic factors.
resultsResponses were received from 538 participants (response rate = 77%). Almost all faculty and residents responded that they would disclose a hypothetical error resulting in minor (97%) or major (93%) harm to a patient. However, only 41% of faculty and residents had disclosed an actual minor error (resulting in prolonged treatment or discomfort), and only 5% had disclosed an actual major error (resulting in disability or death). Moreover, 19% acknowledged not disclosing an actual minor error and 4% acknowledged not disclosing an actual major error. Experience with malpractice litigation was not associated with less actual or hypothetical error disclosure. Faculty were more likely than residents and students to disclose a hypothetical error and less concerned about possible negative consequences of disclosure. Several attitudes were associated with greater likelihood of hypothetical disclosure, including the belief that disclosure is right even if it comes at a significant personal cost.
conclusionsThere appears to be a gap between physicians' attitudes and practices regarding error disclosure. Willingness to disclose errors was associated with higher training level and a variety of patient-centered attitudes, and it was not lessened by previous exposure to malpractice litigation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.