Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2006 Jul;21(7):704-10.
doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00465.x.

Disclosure of medical errors: what factors influence how patients respond?

Kathleen M Mazor  1 , George W Reed, Robert A Yood, Melissa A Fischer, Joann Baril, Jerry H Gurwitz
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Disclosure of medical errors: what factors influence how patients respond?

Kathleen M Mazor et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2006 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Disclosure of medical errors is encouraged, but research on how patients respond to specific practices is limited.

Objective: This study sought to determine whether full disclosure, an existing positive physician-patient relationship, an offer to waive associated costs, and the severity of the clinical outcome influenced patients' responses to medical errors.

Participants: Four hundred and seven health plan members participated in a randomized experiment in which they viewed video depictions of medical error and disclosure.

Design: Subjects were randomly assigned to experimental condition. Conditions varied in type of medication error, level of disclosure, reference to a prior positive physician-patient relationship, an offer to waive costs, and clinical outcome.

Measures: Self-reported likelihood of changing physicians and of seeking legal advice; satisfaction, trust, and emotional response.

Results: Nondisclosure increased the likelihood of changing physicians, and reduced satisfaction and trust in both error conditions. Nondisclosure increased the likelihood of seeking legal advice and was associated with a more negative emotional response in the missed allergy error condition, but did not have a statistically significant impact on seeking legal advice or emotional response in the monitoring error condition. Neither the existence of a positive relationship nor an offer to waive costs had a statistically significant impact.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence that full disclosure is likely to have a positive effect or no effect on how patients respond to medical errors. The clinical outcome also influences patients' responses. The impact of an existing positive physician-patient relationship, or of waiving costs associated with the error remains uncertain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Description of study conditions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson M. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000. - PubMed
    1. Mazor KM, Simon SR, Yood RA, et al. Health plan members' views about disclosure of medical errors. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140:409–18. - PubMed
    1. Gallagher TH, Waterman AD, Ebers AG, Fraser VJ, Levinson W. Patients and physicians attitudes regarding the disclosure of medical errors. JAMA. 2003;289:1001–7. - PubMed
    1. Blendon R, DesRoches CM, Brodie M, et al. Views of practicing physicians and the public on medical errors. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:1933–40. - PubMed
    1. Hobgood C, Peck CR, Gilbert B, Chappell K, Zou B. Medical errors–what and when: what do patients want to know? Acad Emerg Med. 2002;9:1156–61. - PubMed

Publication types