Anaesthetists' knowledge of the medicolegal process following an anaesthetic related incident

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in the branch of Anaesthesiology. Johannesburg, 2017.Background Anaesthetic practice is associated with a variety of complications, which could result in medicolegal consequences. There is minimum exposure to medicolegal teaching during medical training and therefore a potential knowledge gap among anaesthetists may exist. Therefore the aim of the study is to describe the knowledge of anaesthetists in the Department of Anaesthesiology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) regarding the medicolegal process following an anaesthetic related incident. Methods A prospective, descriptive, contextual study design utilising an anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 174 anaesthetists during academic meetings and convenient sampling was used. Results One hundred and seventy questionnaires met the criteria for analysis, giving a response rate of 98%. The overall median score was 42.5% (IQR 35.1-49.3%), showing the overall knowledge was poor. The median score for the knowledge regarding preparation of anticipated medicolegal action was 52.1% (IQR 42.7-57.3%) whereas for the possible legal consequences it was 34.3% (IQR 25.9-43.0%), showing poor knowledge in the subsections too. Senior anaesthetists performed better than their junior counterparts, however none of the groups’ knowledge was adequate. Conclusions Anaesthetists employed in the Department of Anaesthesiology at Wits did not have adequate knowledge of the medicolegal process following an anaesthetic related incident.LG201