Exploring the Phenomenon of Physicians' Apologies Following Medical Errors

Despite the many efforts made by hospitals, the pace of medical error reduction is still slow, many errors will undoubtedly occur and thousands of patients and physicians suffer from medical errors. Members of healthcare organizations generally do not receive training to disclose medical errors and apologize to the damaged person; they may refuse to disclose errors, apologies, or may have other reactions. It is worth noting that this study aims to investigate the phenomenon of physician apology following medical errors.

The research method is qualitative (interview based) with the conventional content analysis approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a purposeful selection of 25 physicians and senior assistants working in Shahid Mohammadi, Children, and Persian Gulf hospitals in Bandar Abbas. Data analysis was performed using MAXQDA 10 software.

The study identified three overarching themes )antecedents, physicians' apologies phenomena, consequences(, eight organizing themes (medical community norms, social factors, individual factors, Components of apologies, apology conditions, achieving of social acceptance, internal and external pressures( and 27 basic themes. Ethical Considerations: To comply with ethical considerations, the ethics research with the code ir.hums.rec.1397.237 received from the Ethics Committee. Written consent was first given to the volunteers to participate in the study, and after consent was obtained, permission was given for interview and note-taking. They were assured of the confidentiality of their personal information.

Fear of legal consequences and loss of credibility makes doctors more cautious in apologizing, but the factors of education, culture, and personality traits facilitate the presentation and acceptance of apology. On the other hand, apologizing improves relationships between the patient and the doctor and prevents problems such as stress and legal follow-up.