Perception of transmitted risk in healthcare
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Perception of transmitted risk in healthcare Carina Ferreira 1 & Teresa Abreu 1 & Mário Basto 1 Received: 22 May 2020 / Accepted: 14 October 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Aim Information on health risks conveyed in pamphlets, websites, and even medical journals often deceive health professionals and patients, either as a result of lack of understanding or as a result of the intention to manipulate opinions and decisions. This problem is even more meaningful when presenting the benefits using relative risk reduction (typically a large number) and, at the same time, showing the harms using absolute risk increase (usually a small number). Therefore, benefits are perceived as much higher, and damage is seen as much lower. In this study, one aims to evaluate the understanding and perceived information of health professionals and the general population concerning risk transmission in healthcare. Subject and methods The information was collected through a questionnaire that was made available online over a period of 3 months and 10 days. One hundred and fifty-four physicians (31.8%), 142 nurses (29.3%), and 189 people from the general population (39%) were considered. Of these, 58.4% were females, 40.2% males, and 1.4% did not specify. The majority of the respondents were relatively young (76.1% were 21 to 40 years old), and 87.3% of the general population held a higher degree. Results Less than half of physicians correctly recognized the relative risk and absolute risk reductions. Lower rates were seen for nurses and the general population. Notably, nurses do not seem to understand the information transmitted much better than the general population. Conclusion This lack of statistical understanding of the risk variation concept among those involved in decision-making can impair the health of patients. It is important that information on health risks is corrected by replacing the presentation of relative risk variation by absolute risk variation, so that many can revise their opinions and decisions. Keywords Risk transmission . Relative risk variation . Absolute risk variation . Decision-making
Introduction Many citizens misunderstand the meaning of numbers transmitted in healthcare, or trust their doctor’s diagnoses and treatments without asking questions. However, the placing of trust in health professionals may not be sufficient. The incorrect interpretation of numbers and statistics in healthcare is most likely the result of the lack of basic statistical knowledge by those involved, partly given the curriculum content in general, and the curriculum in health areas in particular, which often does not value these aspects. But it also arises from the emotional nature that comes from the doctor–patient relationship (doctor–patient relationship based on paternalism, patients’ trust in health professionals who represent knowledge and * Mário Basto [email protected] 1
Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave - Escola Superior de Tecnologia, Barcelos, Braga, Portu
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