Attitudes of house officers toward the autopsy.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the attitudes of house officers in internal medicine and pathology about the value and use of the autopsy.


METHODS
Self-administered multiple-choice questionnaire.


METHODS
Two New York City urban teaching hospitals.


METHODS
112 internal medicine and 37 pathology house officers who were on site during the survey period.


RESULTS
Most internal medicine house officers (86%) felt that the autopsy rate was too low and needed to be increased. The most common reason the residents cited for the low rate was the reluctance of families to grant permission. A majority of medicine housestaff (78%) felt they needed more instruction on how to ask for an autopsy, and 34% had never received feedback from the pathology department on autopsy results. Most pathology residents (94%) felt the autopsy rate was too low; the most common reasons they cited for the low rate were reluctance of clinicians to request permission and clinicians' fears of being sued for malpractice.


CONCLUSIONS
House officers in internal medicine and pathology agreed that autopsies should be performed more frequently, and identified problems in obtaining autopsies that should be addressed by educational, organizational, and regulatory strategies.
Wilkes
M S
MS
Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
Link
R N
RN
Jacobs
T A
TA
Fortin
A H
AH
Felix
J C
JC
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001344:Autopsy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D007396:Internship and Residency; D009519:New York City; D010336:Pathology / Q000193:education; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires