Medical Errors

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Special Eurobarometer

Medical Errors

Fieldwork: September – October 2005 Publication: January 2006

Special Eur obarometer 241 / Wave 64.1 & 64.3 –

TNS Opinion & Social

This survey was requested by Directorate General SANCO and coordinated by Directorate General Press and Communication

This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission.

The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors.

European Commission

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PRESENTATION

Health systems and health policies across the European Union are becoming more and more interconnected, and also more complex. This increased interconnection raises many health policy issues, including health care quality.

Healthcare interventions, even intended to benefit patients, sometimes cause them harm. Mistakes in medical care can occur anywhere in the health care system – at hospitals, doctor’s offices, nursing homes, pharmacies, or patients’ homes - and in any part of the treatment process involving wrong medication, improper treatment, or incorrect or delayed test results.

The European Commission aims at improving the safety of care for patients in all EU Member States through sharing information and expertise. An important step towards this goal was taken in April 2005 when a “Luxembourg Statement on Patient Safety” providing recommendations at the EU level, national level and the level of health care providers was adopted¹.

This in mind the Directorate-General of Health and Consumer Protection launched this Eurobarometer survey on medical errors in the 25 Member States and, in addition, in the acceding and candidate countries and the Turkish Cypriot Community.

Health care research and innovation have mainly focused on biomedical interventions, and error prevention is a young field of research. The problem of medical errors has not been studied at the EU level in a systematic manner before, and this survey is the first of its kind. The intention of the Commission is to carry out the first analysis based on citizens’ perception of medical errors and use the results as a starting point for a more profound approach over the coming years.

This survey deals with the following themes:

• General perception of medical errors

• Experiences of medical errors: familiarity with the topic and concrete experiences

• Practical implications: trust in health care professionals and hospital treatment This report presents the principal results obtained. For each of these themes, the results are analysed in terms of the European average and then considered at the country by country level. Also, some brief comments are made on the socio- demographic variables of citizens of the European Union.²

Furthermore, the responses of three questions are systematically cross-tabulated with the results of each question. These questions are:

• Q2: How important a problem do you think medical errors are in (OUR COUNTRY) today?

• Q4: Have you or a family member suffered

a) A serious medical error in a local hospital?

b) A serious medical error from a medicine that was prescribed by a doctor?³

• Q7: All in all, how worried are you to suffer a serious medical error?

1The full statement “Patient Safety–Making it happen” can be found in

http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_overview/Documents/ev_20050405_rd01_en.pdf

2In some cases, due to the rounding of figures, displayed sums can show a difference of one point with the sum of the individual cells.

3The cross-tabulation is done based on the respondent having suffered at least one type of medical error.

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The fieldwork was conducted in two stages: in September-October 2005 in the 25 Member States and in November-December 2005 in the acceding and candidate countries and the Turkish Cypriot Community. This should be taken into account when analysing the results. Further details of the methodology of the survey can be found in the technical note in the annexes of this report.

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1. GENERAL PERCEPTION OF MEDICAL ERRORS

The first chapter deals with European citizens’ general opinion on medical errors. The perceived severity of the problem and the level of concern about encountering a medical error in the health care system are examined.

1.1 Importance of the problem

- A great majority perceives medical errors as an important problem in their country -

Source questionnaire: Q2

Q2 How important a problem do you think medical errors are in (OUR COUNTRY) today? - % EU

17%

38% 40%

0% 50% 100%

EU25

Very important Fairly important Not very important Not at all important DK

Almost 4 in 5 EU citizens (78%) classify medical errors as an important problem in their country. 38% of respondents rank the issue as very important and a slightly higher share (40%) sees the topic as fairly important. 20% of responses fall into the category of “not important” out of which only 3% indicate medical errors to be of no importance at all.

At the country level, considerable variation in results can be depicted: the share of those perceiving the problem as important varies from 97% in Italy to 48% in Finland.

In Italy (97%), Poland (91%) and Lithuania (90%), at least 9 in 10 respondents perceive the problem as important. The respective shares of those evaluating the problem as very important reach 61% in Italy, 54% in Poland and 50% in Lithuania.

On the other hand, approximately half of the respondents in Finland (51%) and Denmark (48%) do not consider medical errors to be an imminent issue in their country. These two countries clearly stand out from the rest, and Finland is the only country where those not indicating a problem outnumber those assessing medical errors as problematic (51% against 48%).

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Q2 How important a problem do you think medical errors are in (OUR COUNTRY) today? - % country

67%

78%

88%

89%

48%

49%

59%

60%

61%

63%

65%

72%

73%

75%

76%

77%

78%

81%

82%

85%

86%

90%

91%

97%

29%

12%

10%

9%

5%

51%

48%

35%

38%

36%

34%

31%

28%

24%

20%

24%

21%

24%

21%

20%

17%

15%

17%

14%

13%

8%

7%

6%

7%

6%

13%

9%

0% 50% 100%

C Y(tcc) RO TR HR BG FI DK EE CZ ES AT SK BE DE IE FR LU SE LV PT EU25 HU SI MT NL CY UK EL LT PL IT

Important Not important DK

What comes to the acceding and candidate countries, it should be noted that in Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey the number of respondents perceiving medical errors as an important problem approximates 90%.

Altogether, it can be said, with the exception of Finland and Denmark, that clearly over half of the respondents in each country polled perceive medical errors as an important problem in their country.

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Q2 How important a problem do you think medical errors are in (OUR COUNTRY) today?

Very

important Fairly

important Not very

important Not at all important DK

EU25 38% 40% 17% 3% 2%

GENDER

Male 35% 40% 19% 3% 2%

Female 40% 41% 15% 2% 2%

AGE

15 - 24 33% 42% 18% 4% 3%

25 - 39 36% 41% 19% 2% 2%

40 - 54 38% 40% 18% 2% 2%

55 & + 41% 39% 15% 3% 3%

EDUCATION

15 44% 38% 12% 3% 3%

16-19 40% 40% 16% 2% 2%

20+ 30% 44% 23% 3% 1%

Still Studying 32% 43% 18% 5% 3%

OCCUPATION

Self-employed 40% 41% 15% 2% 2%

Managers 27% 43% 25% 3% 1%

Other white collars 35% 43% 18% 2% 2%

Manual workers 38% 38% 19% 3% 2%

House persons 40% 41% 13% 3% 2%

Unemployed 41% 39% 15% 3% 2%

Retired 42% 39% 14% 3% 3%

Students 32% 43% 18% 5% 3%

LOCALITY TYPE

Metropolitan 36% 42% 18% 3% 2%

Other towns 41% 39% 16% 2% 2%

Rural zones 36% 41% 18% 3% 2%

Personal experiences of medical error

Has experienced one 53% 38% 8% 1% 1%

Has not experienced one 33% 41% 20% 3% 3%

How worried of medical errors in general

Worried 57% 38% 4% 0% 1%

Not worried 25% 42% 26% 5% 3%

What comes to the results by socio-demographic variables, some variation can be pointed out. Women appear to be slightly more numerous than men in stating that medical errors are an important topic (81% against 75%). The perceived importance also increases along the age, and the lower the level of education the respondent has, the more likely he/she is to consider the problem as significant. Finally, managers are fewer than their counterparts to evaluate the issue as important.

Not surprisingly, a connection between the perceived importance and personal experiences of medical errors and the general level of concern is visible in this question. Those who have experienced a medical error personally or in the family are significantly more likely to observe the problem as very important (53%

against 33%). The difference is even more substantial for those who in general are worried of suffering a medical error (57% against 25%).

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1.2 The level of concern Source questionnaire: Q7 & Q8

1.2.1 Personal concern about medical errors

- Respondents are fairly confident of not to personally encounter a serious medical error -

Q7 All in all, how worried are you to suffer a serious medical error?

- % EU

10% 30% 43% 15%

0% 50% 100%

EU25

Very worried Fairly worried Not very worried Not at all worried DK

In comparison with the perceived importance of the problem of medical errors, the EU citizens seem to be somewhat moderately worried about being exposed to misconduct in the health care system. 40% are worried about the possibility to suffer a medical error whereas 58% are not particularly concerned about this.

As already observed, the country results vary significantly. The most concerned respondents are found in Lithuania (70%), Greece (70%), Latvia (64%) and Italy (64%). Lithuanians appear to be the most troubled with a 27% share of those being very worried compared to 22% in Greece and Latvia and 17% in Italy.

Nevertheless, in majority of the countries, respondents are not extremely worried to personally experience a serious medical error. This is especially the case in Sweden (13% worried), Austria and the Netherlands (20% each).

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Q7 All in all, how worried are you to suffer a serious medical error?

- % county

41%

53%

58%

65%

66%

13%

20%

24%

29%

31%

33%

35%

37%

39%

40%

41%

43%

47%

50%

51%

53%

64%

70%

56%

40%

32%

30%

28%

86%

79%

76%

69%

67%

65%

61%

60%

61%

60%

59%

58%

54%

55%

52%

47%

43%

46%

32%

34%

29%

25%

6%

11%

5%

6%

5%

6%

0% 50% 100%

HR CY(tcc) RO TR BG SE NL AT FI DK DE EE IE CZ UK ES HU BE FR SI EU25 SK MT LU PT PL CY IT LV EL LT

Worried Not worried DK

Overall, in majority of the countries the share of those not being worried outnumbers the share of those having concerns about suffering a serious medical error.

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Q7 All in all, how worried are you to suffer a serious medical error?

Very

worried Fairly

worried Not very

worried Not at all worried DK

EU25 10% 30% 43% 15% 2%

GENDER

Male 8% 28% 43% 18% 2%

Female 12% 31% 42% 12% 2%

AGE

15 - 24 8% 27% 44% 18% 2%

25 - 39 10% 29% 45% 15% 2%

40 - 54 10% 31% 43% 13% 3%

55 & + 11% 30% 40% 15% 3%

EDUCATION

15 13% 31% 38% 15% 3%

16-19 11% 31% 42% 13% 2%

20+ 7% 27% 48% 16% 2%

OCCUPATION

Self-employed 11% 33% 41% 12% 4%

Managers 7% 22% 52% 17% 1%

House persons 13% 37% 36% 12% 3%

Unemployed 13% 32% 39% 14% 2%

Retired 11% 30% 40% 16% 3%

Students 8% 26% 45% 19% 2%

LOCALITY TYPE

Metropolitan 10% 27% 43% 16% 3%

Other towns 10% 32% 42% 13% 3%

Rural zones 10% 29% 44% 15% 2%

How important a problem in the country

Important 13% 36% 40% 10% 2%

Not important 1% 8% 56% 34% 1%

The same socio-demographic conformities as were depicted with the perceived importance of the problem also apply here, though to a slightly lesser extent. Women, elderly and those with a low level of education are more likely to be worried to suffer a medical error than their counterparts. Instead, managers and students are significantly fewer to be troubled by a possibility of a medical error.

What comes to the breakdown by questions, those who consider medical errors to be an important problem in their country are also significantly more inclined to be worried to suffer a medical error than those who perceive the problem to be indifferent (49%

against 9%). This is also the case, as can be expected, for those who have personally experienced a medical error (63% against 33%).

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1.2.2 General concern about medical errors

- When the question of the risk of encountering a medical error is posed at general level, citizens appear to be more concerned -

Q8 How worried should hospital patients be about serious medical errors? - % EU

12% 36% 41% 8%

0% 50% 100%

EU25

Very worried Fairly worried Not very worried Not at all worried DK

48% of the EU citizens state that hospital patients should be worried about the possibility of a serious medical error whereas a very slight majority of 49% says the opposite.

Those living in Greece (75%), Latvia (74%) and Italy (69%) feel the most concerned, 28% of Greeks, 26% of Latvians and 17% of Italians rating as very worried. The highest share of those being very worried is found in Cyprus, the score reaching 31%.

The citizens of Sweden (20%), Austria (24%) and the Czech Republic (30%) remain less concerned.

Even if direct comparison with the question of citizens’ personal level of concern of suffering a serious medical error (Q7) is not reliable here, it can be pointed out that when the respondents are asked how worried a hospital patient should be to suffer a serious medical error, they seem to be more concerned about the possibility of a medical error than when they asked in the personal dimension.

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Q8 How worried should hospital patients be about serious medical errors - % country

53%

54%

58%

65%

66%

20%

24%

30%

33%

35%

37%

39%

40%

42%

45%

47%

49%

55%

60%

65%

66%

69%

74%

75%

43%

36%

26%

29%

25%

79%

72%

67%

65%

55%

54%

61%

60%

56%

52%

55%

54%

48%

47%

42%

39%

33%

28%

33%

26%

22%

24%

11%

16%

6%

10%

7%

5%

8%

7%

5%

7%

0% 50% 100%

HR TCC RO TR BG SE AT CZ DK FI EE ES NL BE FR SK DE HU IE EU25 MT SI UK LU PT PL LT CY IT LV EL

Worried Not worried DK

All in all, it can be roughly generalised that citizens of Southern Europe and new Member States around the Baltic Sea appear to be somewhat more concerned of the safety of hospital patients while citizens of Western Europe, in particular of the Nordic Member States, seem to have more confidence in their healthcare system.

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Q8 How worried should hospital patients be about serious medical errors?

Very

worried Fairly

worried Not very

worried Not at all worried DK

EU25 12% 36% 41% 8% 4%

GENDER

Male 11% 33% 43% 9% 4%

Female 13% 38% 38% 7% 4%

AGE

15 - 24 11% 32% 44% 9% 4%

25 - 39 11% 35% 43% 7% 4%

40 - 54 12% 37% 41% 7% 4%

55 & + 13% 37% 37% 8% 5%

EDUCATION

15 15% 38% 34% 7% 6%

16-19 12% 37% 40% 7% 4%

20+ 9% 32% 47% 9% 3%

OCCUPATION

Self-employed 13% 39% 37% 7% 4%

Managers 9% 30% 50% 9% 2%

House persons 13% 42% 33% 7% 5%

Unemployed 15% 38% 36% 7% 4%

Retired 13% 37% 37% 8% 5%

Students 10% 33% 45% 9% 4%

LOCALITY TYPE

Other towns 11% 37% 40% 7% 5%

Rural zones 11% 34% 42% 9% 4%

Important 14% 43% 35% 4% 4%

Not important 2% 10% 64% 20% 3%

Worried 26% 66% 7% 1% 1%

Not worried 3% 16% 65% 13% 4%

The findings of socio-demographic analysis are consistent with the already observed patterns though the tendencies are somewhat weak. Women, those in the two oldest age groups and less educated respondents express slightly more concern than their counterparts while managers and students remain less worried about the issue.

What comes to the cross-tabulation of questions, the same remarks can be made as with the previous question but the differences are even stronger. A clear majority of those rating the problem as important also expresses concern over the safety of hospital patients and, as expected, this is also the case for those who have personal experiences of medical errors.

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2. EXPERIENCES OF MEDICAL ERRORS

The second chapter portrays the situation of how familiar Europeans are with the issue of medical errors in terms of reading or hearing about them and how common it is to actually have personally or in the family experienced an incident of medical misconduct.

2.1 Visibility of medical errors Source questionnaire: Q1

- Most European citizens have read or heard about medical errors -

78% of the EU citizens polled have at least sometimes heard or read about medical errors. Over a third (34%) states to often have come across with the topic whereas only 3% indicates that they have never encountered the subject in the media or discussions.

At the country level, over half of Greek (61%), Italian (53%), Hungarian (52%), Lithuanian (52%) and Polish (51%) respondents have often heard or read about medical errors. On the contrary, 1 in 5 citizens of Luxembourg states that they have never heard talking about medical errors.

It can also be pointed out that respondents in the 10 new Member States (44%) are notably more likely to have often read or heard about medical errors than citizens of the old Member States (32%).

When comparing these results to the assessed importance and the expressed concern, it can be noted that in countries where citizens appear to be familiar with the topic they also evaluate the problem to be more important and are more often worried about medical errors than their counterparts.

Q1 How often have you read or heard about medical errors in (OUR COUNTRY)? - % EU

34% 44% 18%

0% 50% 100%

EU25

Often Sometimes Rarely Never DK

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Q1 How often have you read or heard about medical errors in (OUR COUNTRY)? - % country

32%

35%

38%

42%

46%

10%

12%

18%

19%

22%

23%

25%

26%

27%

28%

31%

34%

36%

38%

45%

51%

52%

53%

61%

43%

36%

34%

43%

50%

46%

41%

46%

34%

42%

54%

44%

41%

51%

45%

42%

57%

39%

54%

52%

44%

46%

56%

47%

44%

36%

39%

34%

40%

29%

18%

19%

17%

8%

35%

30%

34%

26%

30%

18%

30%

27%

21%

27%

22%

11%

26%

15%

14%

18%

17%

7%

11%

7%

13%

5%

8%

9%

5%

7%

20%

5%

8%

5%

6%

7%

0% 50% 100%

RO CY(tcc) BG TR HR AT MT EE FI LU DE FR CZ ES SI SE IE PT SK BE DK EU25 LV NL UK CY PL LT HU IT EL

Often Sometimes Rarely Never DK

All in all, the respondents appear to be fairly familiar with the subject of medical errors. In all countries polled, more than a half of citizens has at least sometimes read or heard about medical errors.

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Q1 How often have you read or heard about medical errors in (OUR COUNTRY)?

Often Sometimes Rarely Never DK

EU25 34% 44% 18% 3% 1%

GENDER

Male 32% 45% 18% 4% 1%

Female 35% 44% 17% 3% 0%

AGE

15 - 24 28% 41% 24% 7% 1%

25 - 39 34% 46% 17% 2% 1%

40 - 54 36% 45% 16% 3% 0%

55 & + 35% 44% 17% 4% 1%

EDUCATION

15 37% 41% 17% 5% 1%

16-19 35% 44% 18% 3% 0%

20+ 34% 48% 15% 2% 0%

OCCUPATION

Self-employed 40% 43% 14% 3% 0%

Managers 33% 51% 14% 2% 1%

House persons 35% 42% 18% 4% 1%

Unemployed 36% 42% 18% 4% 0%

Retired 36% 43% 17% 4% 1%

Students 26% 43% 24% 6% 1%

LOCALITY TYPE

Other towns 36% 43% 18% 3% 0%

Rural zones 31% 45% 19% 4% 1%

Important 41% 46% 12% 2% 0%

Not important 10% 41% 41% 7% 1%

Worried 50% 41% 7% 2% 0%

Not worried 23% 47% 25% 4% 1%

What comes to the socio-demographic variables, no straight tendencies can be depicted. It can be noted that respondents in the youngest age group and students are fewer to have heard or read about medical errors than their counterparts.

When cross-tabulated with the perceived importance of the problem, personal experiences and the level of concern, it can be concluded that those who assess the problem to be important, those who have personal experiences of medical errors and those being worried about suffering one are significantly more likely to have heard or read about medical errors.

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Q4 Have you or a family member suffered…? - % Yes

9 % 10 % 10 %

16 % 16 % 7 %

7 % 9 % 9 %

10 % 12 % 10 % 9 %

11%

8 %

15 % 11%

14 % 11%

13 % 9 %

18 % 10 %

13 % 16 %

18 % 16 %

2 1%

2 3 % 11%

10 %

14 %

19 % 2 0 % 2 0 % 11%

12 % 12 %

13 % 15 % 15 %

16 % 17 % 17 %

18 % 18 % 18 % 18 %

19 % 19 % 19 %

2 2 % 2 2 % 2 2 %

2 5 % 2 6 %

2 7 % 2 8 %

2 9 % 3 2 % 18 %

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

RO TR HR BG CY(tcc) AT DE HU EL IE SK PT NL SI BE ES IT UK C Z FR SE C Y MT FI LU LT EE PL DK LV EU25

A serious medical error in a local hospital

A serious medical error from a medicine that was prescribed by a doctor

2.2 Personal experiences of medical errors Source questionnaire: Q4

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Besides covering respondents’ perception of medical errors, they were also asked whether they have either personally or in the family experienced a serious medical error.

23% of Europeans state to have been directly affected by a medical error personally or in the family. 18% indicate that they or their family members have experienced a serious medical error in a hospital whereas 11% announces having been prescribed wrong medication.

Roughly, it can be stated that in countries with fewer incidents in hospitals also the number of misconducts with medication are rarer. In general, incidents in hospitals appear to be more common than incidents of unsuitable medicament.

The highest numbers of experienced incidents in hospitals are found in Latvia (32%), Denmark (29%) and Poland (28%) while errors in the medicament prescribed by a doctor are the most frequent again in Latvia (23%) and Denmark (21%) but also in Estonia and Malta (18% each).

Austria tops the ranking having both the fewest medical errors in hospitals (11%) and in medical prescriptions (7%). Incidents are reported to be fairly rare also in Germany and Hungary.

Due to the nature of this question, in-depth socio-demographic analysis does not offer added value to the interpretation. Instead, comparing citizens’ actual experiences with their perceptions provides us with an insight.

Out of the respondents perceiving the problem of medical errors as important, approximately 1 in 5 has also personal experiences in a hospital whereas in the group of those seeing the problem as indifferent, only 8% have been directly effected by the issue.

The connection appears to be even stronger what comes to the level of concern. 29%

of those stating they are worried about experiencing a medical error have actually encountered one in a hospital whereas only 1 in 10 of those feeling not worried has personal experiences of the issue.

The tendencies are parallel with having concrete experiences of being prescribed wrong medication although to a somewhat lesser extent.

Q4 Have you or a family member suffered…?

1) A serious medical error in a hospital 2) A serious medical error from a medicine that was prescribed by a doctor

Yes No DK ^Yes ^No ^DK

How important a problem in the country How important a problem in the country

Important 21% 78% 1% Important 13% 86% 1%

Not important 8% 92% 0% Not important 4% 95% 1%

How worried of medical errors in general How worried of medical errors in general

Worried 29% 69% 2% Worried 18% 81% 2%

Not worried 10% 89% 1% Not worried 6% 93% 1%

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3. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

In the last chapter, the anticipated practical implications of problems related to medical errors are discussed. The respondents were asked how trustworthy they find health care professionals in their country, how likely they consider it is to encounter a medical error in a hospital and whether a hospital patient could have an effect on avoiding medical errors during their treatment.

3.1 Trust in medical professionals

- Europeans tend to trust in medical professionals to give the right treatment though great variation occurs between countries- Source questionnaire: Q3

Q3 For each of the following professionals, how confident are you that they would not make a medical error that could harm you? - % EU

68%

69%

74%

30%

29%

23%

0% 50% 100%

Medical staff Doctors Dentists

C onfident Not confident DK

Most of the EU citizens trust in medical professionals not to make a mistake while treating their patients. Dentists are appreciated with the most confidence as almost 3 in 4 respondents (74%) trust in them. 69% have faith in doctors and 68% in other medical staff.

However, a significant share of respondents has doubts about the quality of health care provided by these professional groups. The proportions are respectively 30% not feeling confident about other medical staff, 29% about doctors and 23%

about dentists. This can be seen to imply that the trust in the functioning of health care systems could be improved.

At the country level, the degree of confidence varies greatly though it remains consistent between the professional groups. Finnish citizens have the most faith in all three professionals groups, 93% for dentists and 89% for doctors and other medical staff. France and Belgium follow close by.

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Q3 For each of the following professional groups, how confident are you that they would not make a medical error that could harm you?

% Confident Dentists Doctors Medical staff

EU25 74% 69% 68%

BE 90% 85% 86%

CZ 84% 73% 74%

DK 66% 58% 58%

DE 71% 63% 65%

EE 60% 50% 50%

EL 35% 25% 24%

ES 77% 76% 73%

FR 89% 86% 86%

IE 83% 75% 74%

IT 74% 68% 61%

CY 30% 28% 27%

LV 49% 36% 38%

LT 43% 35% 36%

LU 81% 73% 75%

HU 82% 77% 76%

MT 85% 83% 80%

NL 85% 72% 72%

AT 84% 84% 82%

PL 43% 34% 36%

PT 70% 68% 68%

SI 63% 61% 59%

SK 86% 83% 81%

FI 93% 89% 89%

SE 78% 75% 75%

UK 83% 79% 77%

BG 39% 35% 33%

HR 79% 73% 74%

RO 55% 56% 44%

TR 43% 43% 35%

CY(tcc) 38% 41% 33%

Respondents that have the least trust in health care professionals reside in Greece and Cyprus. Only 24% of Greeks have confidence in medical staff, 25% in doctors and 35% in dentists. The respective figures for Cyprus are 27%, 28% and 30%. The other countries with low level of confidence in their medical professionals are Bulgaria, Poland, and Lithuania.

What comes to the socio-demographic variables, men, young, those with a longer education time, managers, other white collars and students appear to have somewhat more confidence in medical professionals than their fellow respondents.

In the analysis of the cross-tabulation of questions, it can be depicted that those who rate the problem of medical errors as important, are worried to suffer a medical error or have personal experiences are significantly less confident with medical professionals than their counterparts.

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3.2 Perceived likelihood to suffer a medical error

- A notable number of Europeans thinks that it is likely to suffer a medical error in a hospital –

Source questionnaire: Q5

Q5 According to you, how likely do you think it would be that a patient in a (NATIONALITY) hospital would suffer a serious medical error because

of the hospital doctors or medical staff ? - % EU

9% 38% 44% 4%5%

0% 50% 100%

EU25

Very likely Fairly likely Not very likely Not at all likely DK

Almost half (47%) of the EU citizens believe that it is likely to encounter a medical error in a hospital in their country. Even though a slight majority, 48%, thinks the opposite, it cannot be ignored that medical errors are evaluated to be fairly common incidents in hospitals.

Once again, the variation between the countries covered is notable. In general, the same countries in which most of respondents evaluate the problem of medical errors as important and are most worried about suffering a medical error, top the ranking here.

Latvia is far ahead of the others with 83% of citizens stating that serious medical errors are likely to happen in their hospitals. Greece (75%), Poland (72%), Cyprus and Italy (70% each) follow next. In Cyprus, almost a third (31%) of respondents believes that it is very likely to be exposed to a medical misconduct in a hospital while the respective figures are 27% in Greece and 26% in Latvia.

At the other end of the scale, also familiar countries appear. Citizens of Austria consider that medical errors are not very frequent to happen in their hospitals (17%), followed by Swedish citizens (25%).

Again, it can be mentioned here that people in the new Member States (60%) appear to anticipate medical errors to happen more frequently in hospitals than those living in the old Member States (45%). It can also be noted that citizens of the acceding and candidate countries seem to be reasonably worried about the possibility of a medical error in hospitals. This is especially the case in Bulgaria where 80% of respondents assess that misconduct during treatment in a hospital is likely.

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Q5 According to you, how likely do you think it would be that a patient in a (NATIONALITY) hospital would suffer a serious medical error...

- % likely

51%

63%

68%

80%

17%

25%

33%

34%

35%

37%

38%

40%

41%

42%

44%

45%

49%

51%

59%

69%

70%

72%

75%

83%

47%

46%

0% 50% 100%

CY(tcc) HR RO TR BG AT SE CZ NL FI ES DE FR DK SI IE UK BE EE HU MT EU25 LU SK PT LT IT CY PL EL LV

Socio-demographic analysis reveals once more the already familiar patterns. Women (50%), older people (49%), respondents with the shortest education time (51%), house persons (54%) and unemployed (53%) are the most numerous to expect a medical error to happen in a hospital.

(23)

When looking at the cross-tabulations of the questions, the same tendencies are, not surprisingly, perceived to an even wider extent. 81% of respondents feeling worried about suffering a medical error also reckon the likelihood of a medical error in a hospital to be higher than those feeling not worried. The corresponding figures for those who have been directly affected by the issue and for those not having personal experiences are 72% against 40% and for those assessing the problem as important 57% against 14% of those considering the issue as indifferent.

Q5 According to you, how likely do you think it would be that a patient in a

(NATIONALITY) hospital would suffer a serious medical error because of the hospital doctors or medical staff?

Very

likely Fairly

likely Not very

likely Not at all likely DK

EU25 9% 38% 44% 4% 5%

GENDER

Male 8% 35% 48% 5% 4%

Female 9% 41% 41% 3% 5%

AGE

15 - 24 8% 36% 46% 6% 4%

25 - 39 10% 36% 47% 3% 4%

40 - 54 8% 41% 44% 3% 4%

55 & + 9% 40% 41% 4% 6%

EDUCATION

15 11% 41% 38% 4% 7%

16-19 9% 40% 43% 3% 4%

20+ 7% 34% 53% 3% 3%

OCCUPATION

Self-employed 12% 38% 44% 3% 4%

Managers 6% 31% 55% 5% 3%

House persons 10% 44% 37% 3% 6%

Unemployed 12% 41% 40% 3% 4%

Retired 9% 41% 41% 4% 6%

Students 8% 37% 46% 5% 4%

LOCALITY TYPE

Other towns 9% 40% 43% 3% 5%

Rural zones 9% 37% 45% 4% 5%

Important 11% 46% 38% 2% 4%

Not important 1% 13% 72% 11% 3%

Worried 19% 62% 16% 1% 2%

Not worried 2% 23% 65% 6% 4%

Medical Errors

Special Eurobarometer

Medical Errors

Fieldwork: September – October 2005 Publication: January 2006

Special Eur obarometer 241 / Wave 64.1 & 64.3 –

Table of contents

PRESENTATION

1. GENERAL PERCEPTION OF MEDICAL ERRORS

2. EXPERIENCES OF MEDICAL ERRORS

3. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS