Impact of High Workload on the Medicolegal Responsibilities of Emergency Doctors

High workload, fatigue, and burnout have been found to be associated with increased medical errors and impaired performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether medico-legal reports, which are a legal responsibility for doctors in Turkey, could be neglected on days with excessive high workload. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the daily total number of patients who presented at the emergency departme nt of a state hospital and the number of medico-legal cases reported in a 1-year before and during the Covid-19 pandemic were analyzed. By using a workload score proposed and calculated for this study, the data of the days with and without excessive workload were compared. As a result, it was determined that the number of medico-legal cases reported by doctors significantly decreased on days when the workload increased excessively. There was a significant correlation between the number of medico-legal cases and the total number of cases on days when the workload score was significantly reduced and it allowed a certain degree of modelling. An excessive workload seems to be caused doctors to neglect their legal medicine responsibilities, which poses a risk to both doctors and patients.