Table 2.
Responses to individual questions
|
No. (%) giving correct response
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question posed | Total (n=129) | Psychiatrist (n=31) | Geriatrician (n=29) | GP (n=35) | Student (n=34) | P |
| If a competent adult refuses a treatment that you as a doctor are proposing, can you still treat them under common law? (Correct response=NO) | 110 (85%) | 24 (77%) | 25 (86%) | 30 (88%) | 31 (91%) | 0.29 |
| Should the Mental Health Act always be used to treat physical illness, when someone with a mental disorder is refusing treatment? (Correct response=NO) | 104 (81%) | 27 (87%) | 24 (83%) | 25 (71%) | 28 (82%) | 0.73 |
| As a doctor what would you do if one of your patients were driving when you deemed them incapable of this? (After discussion inform DVLA) | 110 (85%) | 26 (84%) | 23 (79%) | 32 (91%) | 29 (85%) | 0.37 |
| What is the legal age of consent to heterosexual relationships? (Correct response=16) | 107 (83%) | 24 (77%) | 25 (86%) | 32 (91%) | 26 (76%) | 0.60 |
| What is the legal age of consent to homosexual relationships? (Correct response=16) | 30 (23%) | 11 (35%) | 7 (24%) | 6 (17%) | 6 (18%) | 0.24 |
| Are you eligible to vote as an elector if you are detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act? (Correct response=NO) | 61 (47%) | 14 (45%) | 16 (55%) | 19 (54%) | 12 (35%) | 0.02 |
| If your name is on the electoral register, can a registered medical practitioner deem you incapable of voting? (Correct response=NO) | 56 (43%) | 18 (58%) | 13 (45%) | 13 (37%) | 12 (35%) | 0.24 |
| If your name is on the electoral register, can a section 12 approved psychiatrist deem you incapable of voting? (Correct response=NO) | 25 (19%) | 13 (42%) | 3 (10%) | 4 (11%) | 5 (15%) | 0.003 |
GP=general practitioner; DVLA=Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency