Physicians responsibility, medical malpractice and defensive medicine knowledge level of physicians in Tekirdağ provincial center

Malpractice and defensive medicine are concepts that are often mentioned in our country, as in many countries. In this research, it is aimed to reveal the attitudes of physicians working in Tekirdağ Provincial Center on defensive medicine and their knowledge level on malpractice. 216 Physicians working at Tekirdağ Provincial Center participated in the research. In the first part of the study, which the participants' opinions were taken, the participants thought that there was an increase in malpractice lawsuits and 13.4% of the physicians were sued. It was seen that the majority of them had Compulsory Liability Insurance and most of physicians exhibited both positive and negative defensive medicine. In the second part of the study which the "Medical Errors Attitude Scale" was used, it was determined that the average medical error attitude score of the participants was 3.6, so the physicians had an above-average attitude at importance of medical errors and error reporting. In the third part of the study "Malpractice Knowledge Level Scale" was used and it was found that 62.5% of the physicians were adequate in terms of malpractice level of knowledge. As a result, it was concluded that malpractice and defensive medicine should be given more place in medical education, in-service training should be emphasized, and legal regulations should be made for a safe work conditions.