從整形外科醫療爭議女性患者特性探討醫病溝通之應用

Objectives: We investigated the characteristics of plastic surgery female patients with medical disputes. This study aims to enhance physician-patient communication and identify any implications that affect clinical practice. Methods: The target population consists of all female patients receiving cosmetic surgery who had medical disputes from a Taipei City District Hospital. The information was collected from January 2002 to December 2006 using medical chart records. Descriptive data was used to analyze the patients' characteristics. Results: A total of 1735 female patients received cosmetic surgery at the chosen hospital and among these individuals, thirteen patients had a medical dispute and four patients (26.7%) sued their plastic surgeon. Of the thirteen patients involved in a medical dispute, 61.5% were divorced; 76.9% received the operations under general anesthesia; 6.5% had a hi story of psychiatric clinic visits; 53.8% had junior college education or above; 46.2% had heard about their doctor before seeking the operation; 38.5% had borrowed money to pay for their surgery; 26.7% had received at least three previous cosmetic operation experiences and 15.3% had a history of medical dispute. Medical disputes showed a decreasing trend from 2002 to 2006. Conclusions: The incidence of medical dispute and litigation during the study period were 0.74% and 0.23%, respectively. Our study revealed that we should take the patient's characteristics into consideration in order to enhance preoperative communication with their health care provider.