Perception of medical errors among health professionals and students

Abstract

Objective: To know the perceptions of health professionals and students about medical errors. Methods: It is a qualitative study conducted with 92 subjects of both genders in the Campus 1 from the Federal University of Paraíba, in João Pessoa. For data collection, we have used a semi-structured questionnaire consisted of two parts containing the test of Free Association of Words with the inductive term "medical error". The collected data were analyzed with the help of the software Alceste, which showed additional six classes. Results: The subjects perceive medical error from the recognition of "impunity" and associate it to "incompetence", "inattention", "disinterest" and "unpreparedness" by doctors to exercise their profession. Conclusion: Both students and professionals point as causes of medical errors: the bad professional training coupled with lack of infrastructure of services offered, as well as arrogance of doct.