Schofield C
Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham.
Med Sci Law. 2008 Apr;48(2):113-6. doi: 10.1258/rsmmsl.48.2.113.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 was partially implemented in April 2007. Doctors should be aware of the Act and what implications it has on their clinical practice. This survey looked at the knowledge of physicians and psychiatrists regarding assessing capacity within the Act by means of a questionnaire. The results showed that 100% of physicians and 70% of the psychiatrists answered questions wrongly in the questionnaire. Also, 97% of physicians and 70% of psychiatrists did not have some aspects of knowledge about capacity. Statistically significant differences in responses between physicians and psychiatrists were in relation to their knowledge of the existence and implementation of the Act. Answers were related to active schizophrenia, weighing up pros and cons, and recent assessment of incapability in relation to being by definition incapable. This study shows that psychiatrists do slightly better in answering questions about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and about capacity when compared with physicians, however both groups could improve their knowledge. With the full implementation of the Act in October 2007, this study shows the urgency and importance of training in the area of capacity for all doctors.
《2005年精神能力法案》于2007年4月部分实施。医生应了解该法案及其对临床实践的影响。这项调查通过问卷调查了解内科医生和精神科医生对该法案中能力评估的知识掌握情况。结果显示，在问卷中，100%的内科医生和70%的精神科医生回答错误。此外，97%的内科医生和70%的精神科医生在能力知识的某些方面存在欠缺。内科医生和精神科医生在回答关于该法案的存在和实施方面的问题时，回答存在统计学上的显著差异。答案涉及活跃型精神分裂症、权衡利弊以及近期关于无行为能力的评估（根据定义无行为能力）。这项研究表明，与内科医生相比，精神科医生在回答关于《2005年精神能力法案》和能力的问题时表现稍好，但两组都需要提高其知识水平。随着该法案于2007年10月全面实施，这项研究表明了对所有医生进行能力领域培训的紧迫性和重要性。
