ArticleScientific reports2023
Defensive medicine practices as a result of malpractice claims and workplace physical violence: a cross-sectional study from Egypt.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Defensive Medicine Attitudes and Associated Factors Among Physicians Working in Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics in Istanbul, Türkiye: Cross-Sectional Analytical Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Title Medico-Legal Preparedness in Dental Education: Training Gaps, Defensive Practice and Curriculum Implications Among Romanian Dental Students and Dentists.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- Defensive medicine practices and workplace violence among physicians in tertiary healthcare settings in Zagazig, Egypt: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Perioperative practice variations between university and private hospitals in total knee arthroplasty: a retrospective comparative study.Acta orthopaedica et traumatologica turcica · 2026Article
- Defensive medicine practices and attitudes toward malpractice among physicians in Jordan: a cross-sectional study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- The Mediating Role of Working Hours in the Effect of Surgical and Internal Medicine Residents' Fear of Malpractice on Defensive Medical Practices.The Eurasian journal of medicine · 2026Article
- Construction and validation of nomogram model for high-risk early warning of medical complaints based on occupational characteristics and workload of medical staff.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Comparison of accusations against physicians and the practice of defensive medicine between surgical and non-surgical specialties.PloS one · 2026Article
- The current state of defensive medicine and its association with empathy: a cross-sectional study among graduate students in Guangxi, China.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Postgraduate Medical Training in India: Inadequacies and Challenges Faced by Young Medical Graduates.Cureus · 2025Review
- Impact of patient aggression and violence against physicians on the team and organisational levels in China: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- The second victim phenomenon´s impact in male and female healthcare workers: a scoping review.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2025Article
- Perspectives of physicians on risk factors for patient aggression and violence against physicians in Chinese hospitals: a Q-methodology study.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Article
- Defensive Medicine in an Emergency Department: The Overuse of High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin I Testing.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Improving surgical quality of care: learning from 8,331 surgical medical malpractice cases.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Defensive medicine refers to practices motivated mainly by legal rather than medical purposes. Increased healthcare costs, overutilization of medical services, and potential harm to patients from unnecessary procedures are among its drawbacks. We performed this study to assess the prevalence of defensive medicine practices in Egypt and their associations with experiencing malpractice claims and workplace physical violence. We investigated 1797 physicians (68.1% male), with an average age of 36.8 ± 9.1 years, practicing in Egypt between January 14th and February 23rd, 2023. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. The majority reported engaging in defensive medicine practices. Specifically, 89.6% acknowledged avoiding high-risk procedures, 87.8% refrained from treating high-risk patients, 86.8% admitted to making unnecessary referrals, 84.9% acknowledged ordering unnecessary tests, 61.4% reported performing unnecessary procedures, and 56.4% disclosed prescribing unnecessary medications. Obstetricians and surgeons exhibited the highest rates of defensive medicine. Using linear regression analysis adjusted for age and sex, malpractice claims and workplace physical violence were associated with defensive medicine score (zero-100): βs (95% CIs) = 5.05 (3.10, 6.99) and 5.60 (3.50, 7.71), respectively, (p values < 0.001). In conclusion, defensive medicine is deeply ingrained in the clinical routines of Egyptian physicians. Establishing a comprehensive national medical liability framework is required.
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