Abstract

KAPLAN, Ruth L.  and  BUSANICHE, Julio. Uncertainty in medicine: translation, transcultural adaptation and application of a scale to assess its tolerance. Medicina (B. Aires) [online]. 2022, vol.82, n.2, pp.217-222. ISSN 0025-7680.

Uncertainty is present in every medical activity and its inadequate manage ment may have negative consequences. The Physicians´ Reactions to Uncertainty (PRU) scale is used to quantify tolerance to uncertainty in medical doctors. Our objective was to carry out the translation into Spanish, cultural adaptation and validation of the PRU scale. The second objective was to compare the results in the PRU scale according to gender, years since graduation and specialty (surgical vs. clinical). The steps followed were: translation into Spanish, review by the committee, back translation, review of the back translations and conduct of the pilot test. The study population was chosen randomly. The Student´s T test was used to compare the scores in the sub-groups, considering of statistical significance a p value of ≤ 0.05. The α-Cronbach was calculated to establish its reliability. Of 116 physicians, 106 answered the survey (91%). No meaningful difference was found in any of the subscales according to gender. Physicians with less than 10 years since graduation showed significantly greater reluctance to disclose mistakes to physicians (p = 0.0001). Surgical specialty physicians got significantly greater scores in the subscale Reluctance to disclose uncertainty to patients (p = 0.0047). The α-Cronbach average value was 0.78. These findings indicate that younger physicians and surgical specialists have greater reluctance to disclose uncertainty and mistakes. Having this information and a validated tool can be helpful to study uncertainty in medical doctors in Latin America and drive strategies to appropriately deal with it.

Keywords : Uncertainty; Scale; Translations.

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