Discharge against Medical Advice in Eight Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria: A Prospective Study

• DOI: 10.4103/njcp.njcp_511_23
• Publication Date: 2023-12-30T04:01:16Z
• Authors: UE Anyaehie; O Ede; EO Edomwonyi; HC Ekwedigwe; AM Toluse; ON Muoghalu; N Okoh; TM Dabkana; O Esan; LO Ajiboye; OM Shodipo; IA Anikwe
• Keywords: Quarter (Canadian coin); Tertiary care; Against medical advice

Background: Discharge against medical advice (DAMA) is when a patient decides to leave the hospital without consent of treating physician. It poses serious clinical, ethical, and legal challenges individual physician as well hospital. Aim: To determine prevalence reasons for DAMA in orthopedic departments eight tertiary hospitals Nigeria. Materials Methods: This was prospective multi-center descriptive study undertaken Nigerian hospitals. Consecutive patients who requested within 1 year consented participate had face-to-face interviews. Data obtained were documented questionnaire analyzed with SPSS version 20. Results: The total number studied 373 mean age 34.7 ± 17.5 years. About quarter them (25.5%) between 31 40 A rate 1.9% found financial constraint being predominant reason (40.8%). Other include family preference unorthodox treatment (18.8%) dissatisfaction (7.0%) among others. Conclusion: findings indicate low compared previous studies this region. also indicates that constraints, care, educational status are major drivers DAMA. Deepened health insurance other measures can reduce should be prioritized improve outcomes.