DEFENSIVE MEDICINE;

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of defensive medicine among doctors of Civil Hospital and Jinnah Hospital Karachi and to introduce it towards the community of doctors. Material And Methods: 200 doctors from different wards of Civil Hospital Karachi and Jinnah Hospital Karachi played crucial role in filling of Performa which was especially designed for this research. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Site of Study: Civil and Jinnah Hospital Karachi. Duration: January 01, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Results: 47.9% doctors already knew about defensive medicine while 52.1% didn’t. 40.7% doctors avoid invasive procedures while 50.3% don’t. 92.4% of doctors care for high risk patients while 7.6% avoid caring for them. 109 out of 190 doctors agree and 30 doctors strongly agree about the practice of defensive medicine, 34 doctors are neutral and the rest of them disagree with its practice. Mostly ordered tests are CBC 78.9%, urine D/R 3.2%, 1.1% stool D/R, 1.6% MRI, 2.2% CT scan, 1.1% UCE, 2.7% blood cultures, 0.5% LFTs 9.1% other tests and the doctors with experience of 10 or 15 years are found ordering only CBC mostly. Conclusions: The conclusion obtained from the results shows that most of the participants were experienced doctors but many of them were unaware of the defensive medicine and in spite of that too great number of doctors strongly believe in its practice. Majority of the doctors were found caring for high risk patients. However the prevalence and practice of defensive medicine reduced among doctors having experience of more than 5 years.