Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt
Introduction: Patients may at any time discontinue treatment. This is known by different names such as discharge against medical advice (DAMA) and sign against medical advice. They pose a risk to the physician and can be a source of litigation. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Nigerian Journal of Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NJM.NJM_144_23 |
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| author | Dabota Yvonne Buowari Barile Edward Ikpae |
| author_facet | Dabota Yvonne Buowari Barile Edward Ikpae |
| author_sort | Dabota Yvonne Buowari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction:
Patients may at any time discontinue treatment. This is known by different names such as discharge against medical advice (DAMA) and sign against medical advice. They pose a risk to the physician and can be a source of litigation.
Methodology:
This is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Accident and Emergency Department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital located in southern Nigeria. The data were collected over 34 months.
Results:
There are 990 study participants with 533 (53.8%) males. The number of patients that absconded is 258 (26.1%), 51 (5.2%) left before they were attended to, 7 (0.7%) left during physical examination and 2 (0.2%) left during history taking. For the reason to DAMA, no reason was given by the majority of the participants 242 (35.6%). The most common reasons are financial constraints 84 (12.4%), seeking the services of a traditional bone setter 56 (8.2%) and improved clinical state 52 (7.7%).
Conclusion:
The reasons for DAMA ranged from patient factors, health worker factors and health facility environment factors. Patients need to understand the reason for their actions. There needs to be enlightenment of the populace on DAMA. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-69cbc2b68b5d491eba7733d855d50493 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1115-2613 2667-0526 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nigerian Journal of Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-69cbc2b68b5d491eba7733d855d504932025-08-20T03:11:39ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsNigerian Journal of Medicine1115-26132667-05262024-04-0133213413910.4103/NJM.NJM_144_23Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port HarcourtDabota Yvonne BuowariBarile Edward IkpaeIntroduction: Patients may at any time discontinue treatment. This is known by different names such as discharge against medical advice (DAMA) and sign against medical advice. They pose a risk to the physician and can be a source of litigation. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Accident and Emergency Department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital located in southern Nigeria. The data were collected over 34 months. Results: There are 990 study participants with 533 (53.8%) males. The number of patients that absconded is 258 (26.1%), 51 (5.2%) left before they were attended to, 7 (0.7%) left during physical examination and 2 (0.2%) left during history taking. For the reason to DAMA, no reason was given by the majority of the participants 242 (35.6%). The most common reasons are financial constraints 84 (12.4%), seeking the services of a traditional bone setter 56 (8.2%) and improved clinical state 52 (7.7%). Conclusion: The reasons for DAMA ranged from patient factors, health worker factors and health facility environment factors. Patients need to understand the reason for their actions. There needs to be enlightenment of the populace on DAMA.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NJM.NJM_144_23absconddischarge against medical advicefinancial constraintshealth facility |
| spellingShingle | Dabota Yvonne Buowari Barile Edward Ikpae Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt Nigerian Journal of Medicine abscond discharge against medical advice financial constraints health facility |
| title | Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt |
| title_full | Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt |
| title_fullStr | Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt |
| title_short | Reasons for Discharge against Medical Advice at the Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt |
| title_sort | reasons for discharge against medical advice at the accident and emergency department of a tertiary hospital in port harcourt |
| topic | abscond discharge against medical advice financial constraints health facility |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NJM.NJM_144_23 |
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