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Information-oriented patients and physician career satisfaction: is there a link?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2010

Hai Fang*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Systems, Management, and Policy, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver, USA
John A. Rizzo
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Economics and Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, NY, USA
*
*Correspondence to: Assistant Professor Hai Fang, Department of Health Systems, Management, and Policy, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver 13001 E 17th Place Room E3312, Campus Box B119 Aurora, CO 80045, USA. Email: hai.fang@ucdenver.edu

Abstract

Patients’ increasing use of alternative sources of information besides their physician and more active involvement in medical decision making may be changing relationships between physicians and their patients. We term patients who provide medical information to their physicians from sources other than their physician as information-oriented patients and investigate the relationship between having such patients and physician career satisfaction. We find that having more information-oriented patients is significantly associated with lower physician career satisfaction. Though healthcare information from alternative sources other than their physicians is thought to promote better-informed patient choices, the adverse relationship with physician career satisfaction found in this study may have important implications for patient access and quality of care.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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