A new 2010 survey of U.S. physicians has revealed some interesting findings regarding the reporting of medical malpractice issues in the health care industry. According to survey data, a large number of doctors are not too eager to take responsibility or report medical misconduct. The study looked at the responses of the nearly 1900 U.S. doctors in seven different practice areas and found that only 64% completely agreed that "physicians should report instances of significantly impaired or incompetent colleagues to their professional society, hospital, clinic, and/or other relevant authority." Furthermore, when asked how prepared they were to deal with impaired or incompetent colleagues a similar percentage responded "very prepared" or "somewhat prepared."

The results of the survey varied quite significantly by those working in large hospitals or practices compared to their colleagues in small practices. Respondents in solo or two-person practices were least likely to completely support reporting of medical misconduct or malpractice. Those physicians working in university or medical school environments were more likely to feel prepared to report these acts.

Shockingly, the survey also found that among the 17 percent of respondents that had direct personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent colleague in the last three years, only 33 percent responded that they had not reported the incident. Popular reasoning for not reporting these colleagues were: "thought someone else was taking care of the problem," "believed nothing would happen as a result of the report," and "fear of retribution."

Additionally, female physicians were more likely than their male counterparts to believe that incompetence should be reported but felt they were less likely to be prepared to report it.

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