Disclosure of dental medical error

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the patient's willingness to declare their medical history to their dentists against demographic and medical information. METHODS: A self-administered structured questionnaire regarding common chronic condition and pregnancy awareness and attitude toward medical information disclosure to their dentists was designed employing a five-point Likert-type scale. The questionnaire was distributed to among sample of adults. Data were collected and statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics, t -tests, ANOVA, and P values...

BACKGROUND: Awareness of key issues associated with patient safety is vital for improving patient care in all fields of medical sciences including dentistry. This study was done to assess awareness among dental undergraduates towards patient safety in different dental institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted at Combined Military Hospital Lahore Medical College & Institute of Dentistry from 1st May to 30th November, 2020...

AIM: To collect empirical data on the attitudes of dental professionals and dental auxiliaries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, regarding the disclosure of medical errors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted, involving the administration of a questionnaire to a sample of 586 participants recruited from over 10 government and private dental institutions in Riyadh between August 2015 and January 2016. The questionnaire collected information regarding participant opinions on (a) personal beliefs, norms, and practices regarding medical errors, (b) the nature of errors that should be disclosed, and (c) who should disclose errors...

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Adverse events are an important but understudied area in dentistry. Most dentists will face the issue of an adverse event several times in their clinical careers. The authors implemented a six-hour pilot educational module at one dental school to improve fourth-year dental students' knowledge and confidence in communicating with patients about adverse events. Based on results from the twenty-nine students who completed both the pre- and posttests, the module significantly increased the students' knowledge of the key concepts involved in adverse events...

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The Department of Health is considering imposing a legal duty of candour on health care providers to ensure that an apology and explanation are given to patients when errors occur during medical treatment. This aims to improve quality of care and reduce adverse events during medical treatment. We present the current system of clinical negligence and the future of medical ethics. We discuss relevant cases with regard to duty of candour, and highlight the existence of serious imbalances in which patients' rights and corresponding ethical duties of professionals predominate over the responsibilities of patients themselves...

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In the course of professional practice, errors will occur and patients may be harmed because of them. The ethical obligation to respect patients' autonomy requires that dentists reveal mistakes to patients if the mistake significantly affects the patient's health and well-being. Answering the question, "would most people think they have a right to know of this type of mistake if it happened to them?" may be helpful in determining the significance of an error. An open disclosure and examination of professional mistakes will be beneficial to patients, doctors, and the practice...

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Computer-based, electronic dental record keeping involves complex issues of patient privacy and the dental practitioner's ethical duty of confidentiality. Federal and state law is responding to the new legal issues presented by computer technology. Authenticating the electronic record in terms of ensuring its reliability and accuracy is essential in order to protect its admissibility as evidence in legal actions. Security systems must be carefully planned to limit access and provide for back-up and storage of dental records...

Traditionally, the dental profession has endorsed the view that one member should not make public--to patients or colleagues--criticisms of the work of another. Recently, the General Medical Council has disagreed, stating that there may well be circumstances when doctors should not protect colleagues from the consequences of their own mistakes. In this paper we endorse this view. We argue that 'whistle blowing' is appropriate in dentistry as well when its aim is to protect patients from the serious harm to which ignoring such errors might lead...