Are patients knowledgeable of medical errors and medical complications? A cross-sectional study at a tertiary hospital, Riyadh

BACKGROUND: Basic understanding of medical errors and medical complications is essential to ensure patient safety. Our aim in this study was to assess whether patients have sufficient knowledge of medical errors and medical complications and to identify the factors that influence their knowledge. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 400 patients with a scheduled appointment at King Abdulaziz Medical City from 2019 to 2020. A self-administered validated questionnaire was developed by the coinvestigators. The first section focused on demographic information, and the second contained 17 scenarios to assess the knowledge of the patients. The data were analyzed with Chi-square test and logistic regression. RESULTS: The sample size realized as 346 (n = 346), with the majority (n = 198, 57%) female, and the mean age 39.5 ± 11 years. The mean scores for the medical errors and complications were 5.5 ± 2.10 and 4.8 ± 2.3, respectively. The participants with secondary education were less likely to have sufficient knowledge of both medical complications (OR 0.52, P = 0.016) and errors (OR 0.52, P = 0.016). In terms of age, the older participants, the 38–47 year age group, were less likely to be knowledgeable about medical complications compared to the younger age groups (OR 0.92, P = 0.046). CONCLUSION: The patients had a higher level of knowledge about medical errors compared to medical complications. The level of education and the employment status significantly predicted the knowledge of both medical errors and complications.