Abdelsamad Islam, Okasha Mohamed, Bedier Ihap, Kuheil Hazem, Hammad Omar Y, Hasan Mohamed
Neurosurgery Department, Shebin Elkom Teaching Hospital, Menoufia, Egypt; Neurosurgery Department, Nottingham University Hospital, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Neurosurgery Department, Alazhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Neurosurgery Department, Ninewells Hospital and Dundee Medical School, Dundee, United Kingdom.
World Neurosurg. 2025 Apr;196:123837. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2025.123837. Epub 2025 Feb 27.
Neurosurgical procedures are associated with the highest rate of malpractice claims. We present this questionnaire-based study to evaluate the risk factors of neurosurgical malpractice claims in Egypt.
We formulated two separate online questionnaires. A total of 950 Egyptian neurosurgeons were invited to participate in the first online questionnaire. A total of 1100 patients who had undergone neurosurgical operations (either spinal or cranial) were invited to participate in the second online questionnaire.
Responses were received from 360 neurosurgeons, 69.4% of whom were at consultant or professor levels. In response to total income, 61.11% of our neurosurgeons reported a total income of > $ 200 (American dollar) per month. Regarding malpractice claims, 36.1% of neurosurgeons believe that malpractice claims are related mainly to spine surgeries. Death is considered the primary motivating surgical outcome for raising malpractice claims by 30.6% of our neurosurgeons, 61.1% of our neurosurgeons are practicing defensive medicine. Responses were also received from 380 neurosurgical patients, 83.3% of whom had spine surgery, seventy-five percent of patients underwent their surgery in private hospitals, 41.7% experienced complications. Regarding communications, 83.3% of patients reported satisfactory communication during their surgeries, and 86.1% were satisfied with their surgeries.
Most Egyptian neurosurgeons prefer to practice defensive medicine because of the high number of malpractice claims. Very thorough measures and collaboration between the health systems, media, regulatory bodies, and neurosurgeons would be required to dismantle the complex situation and improve the practice at risk, and improve overall patient care.
神经外科手术的医疗事故索赔率最高。我们开展这项基于问卷调查的研究，以评估埃及神经外科医疗事故索赔的风险因素。
我们制定了两份独立的在线问卷。共邀请950名埃及神经外科医生参与第一份在线问卷。共邀请1100名接受过神经外科手术（脊柱或颅脑手术）的患者参与第二份在线问卷。
收到了360名神经外科医生的回复，其中69.4%为顾问或教授级别。关于总收入，61.11%的神经外科医生报告每月总收入超过200美元。关于医疗事故索赔，36.1%的神经外科医生认为医疗事故索赔主要与脊柱手术有关。30.6%的神经外科医生认为死亡是引发医疗事故索赔的主要手术后果，61.1%的神经外科医生在采取防御性医疗措施。也收到了380名神经外科患者的回复，其中83.3%接受了脊柱手术，75%的患者在私立医院接受手术，41.7%的患者出现了并发症。关于沟通，83.3%的患者报告手术期间沟通满意，86.1%的患者对手术满意。
由于医疗事故索赔数量众多，大多数埃及神经外科医生倾向于采取防御性医疗措施。需要卫生系统、媒体、监管机构和神经外科医生之间采取非常全面的措施并开展合作，以消除这种复杂局面，改善面临风险的医疗实践，并提高整体患者护理水平。
