Knowledge of Driving Vehicle Licensing Agency guidelines among NHS doctors:A multicentre observational study

Ng, Ka Y Bonnie, Garnham, Jack, Syed, Usama M, Green, Ben L, Watson, Robert, Gollop, Nicholas D, Shalhoub, Joseph and Maruthappu, Mahiben (2015) Knowledge of Driving Vehicle Licensing Agency guidelines among NHS doctors:A multicentre observational study. JRSM Open, 6 (10). ISSN 2054-2704

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Abstract

Objectives: Over half of the UK population holds a driver's licence. The DVLA have produced guidelines to ensure drivers with medical conditions drive safely. Doctors should ensure that patients are given appropriate information and advice if they have a medical condition affecting their driving. We sought to evaluate doctors' knowledge of DVLA guidelines. Design: A 25-point questionnaire was designed from DVLA guidelines (‘The DVLA Questionnaire’). Five questions were included for each of neurology, cardiology, drug and alcohol abuse, visual, and respiratory disorders. Setting: Ealing Hospital, Northwick Park Hospital, Watford General Hospital, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. Participants: 140 UK doctors. Main outcome measures: Questionnaire scores assessing knowledge of DVLA guidelines in five specialty areas. Results: The median overall questionnaire score was 28%, interquartile range 20–36% and range 0–100% [Watford 28%, Leeds 30%, Norfolk and Norwich 36%, Ealing 30%, Northwick Park 28%]. There were no significant differences between the scores for each centre (p = 0.1332), Mean scores for specialty areas were: neurology 33.1%, standard deviation 22.1; cardiology 35.6%, standard deviation 26.9; drug and alcohol abuse 30.6%, standard deviation 23.8; visual disorders 33.9%, standard deviation 23.5 and respiratory disorders 20.3%, standard deviation 24.8; overall score 30.7%. There was no significant difference between the scores of the specialty areas (p = 0.4060). Conclusions: Knowledge of DVLA guidelines in our cohort was low. There is a need for increased awareness among hospital doctors through focused education on driving restrictions for common medical conditions. Improving physician knowledge in this area may help optimise patient safety.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page(https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	dvla,driving,guidelines,physician,knowledge
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Feb 2016 16:00
Last Modified:	24 May 2023 02:06
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57036
DOI:	10.1177/2054270415601586

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