Awareness of Medico-Legal Aspects and Documentation amongst Health Professionals in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: The professionals working in a hospital, especially the clinical staff will have to deal with
many medical cases which have legal implications. Health care providers are at high risk for litigations.
Being aware about medico legal aspects and importance of documentation and performing their duties
ethically can safeguard themselves against risks of litigation. Objective: To assess the awareness among
health professionals about legal practices and medical documentation in patient care. Method: A crosssectional
study was carried out with the help of a validated and pre-tested questionnaire involving 219
health professionals belonging to different disciplines of allied health sciences and nursing at a tertiary
care hospital in south India. Result: The study showed that the professionals who were involved indirectly,
such as pharmacists and health information management professionals scored less than 50% of the total
knowledge score while those involved in direct clinical care such as physiotherapists and nurses scored more
than 50% of the total knowledge score, and hence better. Similarly professional with three or more years
of experience scored above 50% and hence better than professionals with lesser experience. The responses
indicated that, the respondents were only able to attain a score around 50% of the maximum attainable.
Conclusion: The findings indicate there is a need of bringing on the awareness about the various aspects of
medico-legal cases in patient care. This is not only for professional safety but also for the safety of patients
at large. Hospital and their administrators should regularly conduct sensitisation programs on medico legal
aspects in patient care and importance of documentation