What patients talk about when they talk about doctors
February 3, 2012 By Jason Bardi in Health
(Medical Xpress) -- An analysis of hundreds of reviews posted to physician-rating sites on the Internet revealed that patients generally give their doctors favorable reviews in this forum. If they complain, it is generally about the experience of going to the doctorfinding parking, long waits in the office, and unfriendly office staff.
The results of the study, which looked at 712 reviews of 455 doctors in four large urban areas (Chicago, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco) surprised the researchers, based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH).
The study looked at specifically reviews posted at the sites at Yelp.com and RateMDs.com about doctors in those four cities.
"Physicians are very concerned about having unfiltered, anonymous reviews out there on the Internet," said Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, an assistant professor at UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine and the Center for Vulnerable Populations at SFGH, who led the study.
Compounding the fear of negative reviews online, said Sarkar, is the fact that the 1996 federal law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevents doctors from responding substantively to comments posted anonymously from patients. Doing so could be considered a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality and a violation of the HIPAA act.
Doctors are also aware, she said, that information posted online can take on a life of its own, existing permanently for colleagues and future employers to see. Prospective patients may use such information to select their physicians, and reports from the Pew Internet & American Life Project have found that a majority of Americans who have access to the Internet seek health information on there.
While the ratings the team reviewed ranged widely in style, sophistication and level of analysis, approximately 63 percent of the reviews were positive and went so far as to recommend the physician.
What Matters to Patients is Also the Experience
There were negative comments about doctorsincluding one that simply stated "I wouldn't take my dog to him," but these were an exception. Moreover, it generally was not the doctors' own expertise and bedside manner that drove negative ratings, though bedside manner was important to patients.
Instead, it was the whole healthcare experience that stirred patients ire. Common complaints included difficulties parking and booking appointments, long waits in waiting rooms and perceived discourteous manners of receptionists and staff.
These elements are as much a part of the health care experience for patients as the time they spent with the doctor, said Sarkar, and there is an important lesson for doctors, group practices and medical centers in this.
While any specific statement posted online should be taken with a grain of salt, she said, anonymously posted doctor reviews can nevertheless reveal the unfiltered perspectives of patients that could be as relevant to doctors as they would be to any business discussed in a public forum.
"To the extent that people are revealing specific information that is relevant to you, the reviews are useful," said Sarkar.
The article, "What Patients Say About Their Doctors Online: A Qualitative Content Analysis" by Andrea López, Alissa Detz, Neda Ratanawongsa, and Urmimala Sarkar appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
This work was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and by the National Center for Research Resources, one of the National Institutes of Health.
More information: www.springerlink.c… 0311k6wr737/
Provided by
University of California, San Francisco
-
Physician-rating websites are biased, study says
Jun 14, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Online doctor ratings have their flaws
Mar 13, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Doctor’s office is usually first stop in medication mishaps
May 06, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
National survey reveals 80 percent of Americans claim docs need better bedside manners
Apr 24, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Diabetes public health: Study highlights need for better guidelines
Sep 13, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
New research identifies risks, interventions for children's GI health
An increasing number of U.S. children are experiencing gastrointestinal issues that require interventions to resolve, according to research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW).
Health
May 18, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
|
Youth who have their first drink during puberty have higher levels of later drinking
Research shows that the earlier the age at which youth take their first alcoholic drink, the greater the risk of developing alcohol problems. Thus, age at first drink (AFD) is generally considered a powerful predictor of ...
Health
May 17, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
British MPs concerned about parliamentary boozing
One quarter of British lawmakers believe there is an "unhealthy" drinking culture in the Houses of Parliament, according to a survey published on Friday.
Health
May 17, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Patient openness to research can depend on race and sex of study personnel
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that the race and sex of study personnel can influence a patient's decision on whether or not to participate in clinical research.
Health
May 17, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Clinical support for patient self-management is rhetoric rather than reality
The processes to allow people to self-manage their own illness are not being used appropriately by health professionals to the benefit of their patients, new research suggests.
Health
May 17, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Researchers identify a potential new risk for sleep apnea: Asthma
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have identified a potential new risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea: asthma. Using data from the National Institutes of Health (Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)-funded Wisconsin ...
Computational tool translates complex data into simplified 2-dimensional images
In their quest to learn more about the variability of cells between and within tissues, biomedical scientists have devised tools capable of simultaneously measuring dozens of characteristics of individual ...
New theory on genesis of osteoarthritis comes with successful therapy in mice
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, ...
Study finds that sleep apnea and Alzheimer's are linked
A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging adds to the growing body of research linking the two.
'Gap' for HIV vaccine efforts after latest setback
The hunt for an HIV vaccine has gobbled up $8 billion in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts.
Ginger compounds may be effective in treating asthma symptoms
Gourmands and foodies everywhere have long recognized ginger as a great way to add a little peppery zing to both sweet and savory dishes; now, a study from researchers at Columbia University shows purified components of the ...
Feb 16, 2012
Rank: not rated yet