Table 4.

Attitudes toward Error Disclosure among Faculty and Resident Physicians

Question (verbatim)	Number (%) of respondents who agreed
When a mistake occurs, I feel an obligation to tell my patient the facts necessary for him/her to understand what happened	320 (95)
When a mistake occurs, I feel an obligation to make it clear that what happened was a mistake	280 (83)
Disclosing medical errors is the right thing to do even if it comes at a significant personal cost (e.g., harms my reputation or increases my malpractice risk)	299 (89)
It is important for me to tell my patients about errors I have made because that is how I would want to be treated if I were a patient	304 (90)
If I made a medical mistake, disclosing the mistake to my patient would help alleviate my feelings of guilt	207 (61)
Telling my patient about a medical error I have made in their care strengthens my patient’s trust in me as a physician	217 (65)
My decision to disclose an error to my patient depends on whether I think the information will help or harm him/her	116 (35)
When I make a medical mistake, I am my own worst critic	305 (92)
If there were no malpractice risks related to disclosing medical mistakes to patients, it would be much easier to talk with my patients about mistakes when they occur	291 (86)
In general, when thinking about disclosing medical mistakes, I am concerned about the following possible consequences:
Negative patient/family reaction	292 (87)
Malpractice litigation	270 (80)
Professional discipline	195 (58)
Loss of reputation from colleagues	207 (61)
Blame from colleagues	188 (56)
Negative publicity	151 (45)