Table 4.
Pressure from patients and response by professionals
| Patients (or their guardians) request unnecessary tests and procedures from you | You order/carry out unnecessary tests or procedures due to pressure from a patient (or guardian) | You convince the patient (or guardian) that it is unnecessary and can pose significant risk | The patient’s response is negative, or even aggressive, when you refuse to carry out a procedure that the patient requests from you | ||
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | ||
| General practitioners (n = 936) | |||||
| Never | 12 (1.3) | 118 (12.6) | 55 (5.9) | 237 (25.3) | Never |
| Monthly | 192 (20.5) | 463 (49.5) | 248 (26.5) | 400 (42.7) | Sometimes |
| Almost every week | 396 (42.3) | 271 (29.0) | 356 (38.0) | 168 (17.9) | Half the time |
| Almost every day | 260 (27.8) | 69 (7.4) | 227 (24.3) | 92 (9.8) | Most of the time |
| Every day | 76 (8.1) | 15 (1.6) | 50 (5.3) | 39 (4.2) | All the time |
| Paediatricians (n = 682) | |||||
| Never | 9 (1.3) | 188 (27.6) | 14 (2.1) | 231 (33.9) | Never |
| Monthly | 228 (33.4) | 401 (58.8) | 182 (26.7) | 343 (50.3) | Sometimes |
| Almost every week | 316 (46.3) | 84 (12.3) | 262 (38.4) | 73 (10.7) | Half the time |
| Almost every day | 113 (16.6) | 6 (0.9) | 188 (27.6) | 30 (4.4) | Most of the time |
| Every day | 16 (2.3) | 3 (0.4) | 36 (5.3) | 5 (0.7) | All the time |
| Nurses (n = 286) | |||||
| Never | 10 (3.5) | 37 (12.9) | 9 (3.1) | 36 (12.6) | Never |
| Monthly | 82 (28.7) | 123 (43.0) | 106 (37.1) | 158 (55.2) | Sometimes |
| Almost every week | 137 (47.9) | 87 (30.4) | 71 (24.8) | 36 (12.6) | Half the time |
| Almost every day | 46 (16.1) | 31 (10.8) | 92 (32.2) | 54 (18.9) | Most of the time |
| Every day | 11 (3.8) | 8 (2.8) | 8.0 (2.8) | 2 (0.7) | All the time |