Patients prefer to challenge nurses rather than doctors on safety issues

A new study finds that patients prefer to challenge nurses rather than doctors about safety issues related to their care, and women are far more prepared to speak up than men. The findings are based on a survey assessing the factors influencing patients' willingness to ask healthcare professionals questions related to safety. The results showed that patients were far more likely to ask factual questions of all healthcare professionals than they were to pose questions that might be perceived as challenging clinical abilities.