The public’s views on responsibility for medical errors in Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Patients’ attitudes toward medical errors (MEs) have been studied relatively extensively in developed countries around the world, but little is known about Central Asian countries, especially post-Soviet states. The growing importance of patient safety has raised concerns about who should be held accountable for MEs. Due to a lack of research, this issue is poorly understood in Kazakhstan.

Materials and Methods

This study examines respondents’ attitudes toward MEs based on whether they had this experience in Kazakhstan between 2019 and 2021. The statistical analysis of data on MEs was carried out for the whole country. Respondents were asked about the causes of and solutions to the problem of preventable medical errors, as well as what the consequences of MEs should be.

Results

In total, 40.8% of the respondents confirmed that they had experienced problems with MEs. Nearly one-third of Kazakhstani adults agree that the lack of professional qualifications of health professionals is the root cause of MEs.

Conclusions

Differences existed among the regions in the opinion of the public and indicators of the degree of responsibility for and response to MEs. Further study of the causes and attitudes of the public is warranted, which will help better understand the problem of MEs in Kazakhstan.

KEYWORDS:

• Accountability
• healthcare professionals
• medical errors
• residents
• Republic of Kazakhstan

Acknowledgment

This research was only possible because of the dedicated and passionate contribution of all participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical statement

The informed consent form was signed by each patient before the study beginning. The study protocol was considered by the Ethical Committee of Semey Medical University and the permission was granted (Protocol No 3, dated 21 October, 2019).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Oxana Tsigengagel

Oxana Tsigengagel, Conceptualization, Software, Methodology, Curation of Data, Preparation of the Draft, Reviewing, editing, and proofreading. Natalya Glushkova, Zaituna Khismetova, Makpal Alchimbayeva: Data collection and curation, Software, Drafting, Reviewing and Editing. All authors have approved the final manuscript.