Document Detail


Discretionary medical reporting of potentially unfit drivers: a questionnaire-based survey in Southeast Switzerland.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21534006     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In Switzerland, every physician has the right to report a patient that is potentially unfit to drive to the licensing authority without violating medical confidentiality. Verified information regarding physicians' attitudes concerning this discretionary reporting and the frequency of such reports are not available. In order to answer these questions, 635 resident physicians were sent a questionnaire. The response rate was 52%. On average, the responding physicians-for all specialties-reported 0.31 patients (SD 0.64, 95% CI 0.24-0.38) in the year before the survey and 1.00 patient (SD 1.74, 95% CI 0.81-1.20) in the past 5 years. Seventy-nine percent of the responding physicians indicated knowing the current legal requirements for driving in Switzerland. In applied logistic regression analysis, only two factors correlate significantly with reporting: male sex (odds ratio 5.4) and the specialty "general medicine" (odds ratio 3.4). Ninety-seven percent of the physicians were against abolishing medical discretionary reporting and 29% were in favor of introducing mandatory reporting. The great majority of the questioned physicians supported the discretionary reporting of drivers that are potentially unfit to drive as currently practiced in Switzerland. The importance and the necessity of a regular traffic medicine-related continuing education for medical professionals are shown by the low number of reports per physician.
Authors:
Sebastian Eggert; Michael J Thali; Matthias Pfäffli
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Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2011-5-2
Journal Detail:
Title:  International journal of legal medicine     Volume:  -     ISSN:  1437-1596     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2011 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-5-2     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9101456     Medline TA:  Int J Legal Med     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
Affiliation:
Institute of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Cantonal Hospital of Grisons, Loestrasse 170, 7000, Chur, Switzerland.
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