Eastern J Med. 2024; 29(1): 56-65 | DOI: 10.5505/ejm.2024.09582

Impact on Medicolegal Responsibilities of High Workload of Emergency Physicians

Yasin Etli¹, Uður Demir², Mahmut Aþýrdizer^3
1Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical Faculty of Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey
²Tokat State Hospital, Tokat, Turkey
³Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical Faculty of Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

INTRODUCTION: High workload, fatigue, and burnout have been found to be associated with increased medical errors and impaired performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether medico-legal reports, which are a legal responsibility for doctors in Turkey, could be neglected on days with excessive high workload.
METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the daily total number of patients who presented at the emergency department of a state hospital and the number of medico-legal cases reported in a 1-year before and during the Covid-19 pandemic were analyzed. By using a workload score proposed and calculated for this study, the data of the days with and without excessive workload were compared.
RESULTS: As a result, it was determined that the number of medico-legal cases reported by doctors significantly decreased on days when the workload increased excessively. There was a significant correlation between the number of medico-legal cases and the total number of cases on days when the workload score was significantly reduced and it allowed a certain degree of modelling.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: An excessive workload seems to be caused doctors to neglect their legal medicine responsibilities, which poses a risk to both doctors and patients.

Keywords: High workload, Impaired performance, Medico-legal reports, Emergency, Burnout.

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