ArticleBMJ open2017
How is defensive medicine understood and experienced in a primary care setting? A qualitative focus group study among Danish general practitioners.
Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Discontinuing antidepressant medication: a qualitative evidence synthesis and logic model based on health professionals' views.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- How defensive medicine is defined in European medical literature: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Physicians' experiences, attitudes, and beliefs towards medical cannabis: a systematic literature review.BMC family practice · 2021Pooled it
- Danish GP trainees' experiences of navigating patient expectations for non-indicated procedures or tests: a qualitative interview study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Behavioral Profiles in Romanian Resident Physicians: An Exploratory Study with Implications for Medical Education and Human Resource Development.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Perceptions of Medical Malpractice Liability and Informed Consent Among Hospital Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Defensive Medical Practice in Dentistry: A Dual-Perspective Cross-Sectional Analysis of Dentists and Patients in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Fear of malpractice, anxiety levels, and defensive medicine practices among rhinoplasty surgeons: a cross-sectional study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Value-based healthcare payment models: a wolf in sheep's clothing for patients and clinicians.Annals of medicine · 2024Article
- Gatekeeping and referral of patients holding private health insurance: a survey among general practitioners in Norway.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2024Article
- The influence of fears of perceived legal consequences on general practitioners' practice in relation to defensive medicine - a cross-sectional survey in Germany.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Patient perspectives on data sharing regarding implementing and using artificial intelligence in general practice - a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Collateral Victims of Defensive Medical Practice.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Article
- Use of Cervical Cancer Screening among Patients of Primary Healthcare Services: Northeast Portugal.Portuguese journal of public health · 2022Article
- A qualitative interview study of Australian physicians on defensive practice and low value care: "it's easier to talk about our fear of lawyers than to talk about our fear of looking bad in front of each other".BMC medical ethics · 2022Article
- Defensive medicine in Danish general practice. Types of defensive actions and reasons for practicing defensively.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2021Article
- Analysis of General Practitioners' Attitudes and Beliefs about Psychological Intervention and the Medicine-Psychology Relationship in Primary Care: Toward a New Comprehensive Approach to Primary Health Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The role of procalcitonin in reducing antibiotics across the surgical pathway.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesRecent years have witnessed a progressive increase in defensive medicine (DM) in several Western welfare countries. In Danish primary and secondary care, documentation on the extent of DM is lacking. Before investigating the extent of DM, we wanted to explore how the phenomenon is understood and experienced in the context of general practice in Denmark. The objective of the study was to describe the phenomenon of DM as understood and experienced by Danish general practitioners (GPs).
designA qualitative methodology was employed and data were generated through six focus group interviews with three to eight GPs per group (n=28) recruited from the Region of Southern Denmark. Data were analysed using a thematic content analysis inspired by a hermeneutic-phenomenological focus on understanding and meaning.
resultsDM is understood as unnecessary and meaningless medical actions, carried out mainly because of external demands that run counter to the GP's professionalism. Several sources of pressure to act defensively were identified by the GPs: the system's pressure to meet external regulations, demands from consumerist patients and a culture among GPs and peers of infallibility and zero-risk tolerance.
conclusionsGPs understand DM as unnecessary and meaningless actions driven by external demands instead of a focus on the patient's problem. GPs consider defensive actions to be carried out as a result of succumbing to various sources of pressure deriving from the system, the patients, the GPs themselves and peers.
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