Professional values and reported behaviours of doctors in the USA and UK: quantitative survey
Authors
Roland, MartinRao, Sowmya R.
Sibbald, Bonnie
Hann, Mark
Harrison, Stephen
Walter, Alex
Guthrie, Bruce
DesRoches, Catherine M.
Ferris, Timothy G.
Campbell, Eric G.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2011-06-09Keywords
*Attitude of Health PersonnelDelivery of Health Care
Female
Great Britain
Humans
Male
Physicians
Professional Practice
Questionnaires
*Social Values
State Medicine
United States
UMCCTS funding
Bioethics and Medical Ethics
Health Services Research
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: The authors aimed to determine US and UK doctors' professional values and reported behaviours, and the extent to which these vary with the context of care. METHOD: 1891 US and 1078 UK doctors completed the survey (64.4% and 40.3% response rate respectively). Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare responses to identical questions in the two surveys. RESULTS: UK doctors were more likely to have developed practice guidelines (82.8% UK vs 49.6% US, p<0.001) and to have taken part in a formal medical error-reduction programme (70.9% UK vs 55.7% US, p<0.001). US doctors were more likely to agree about the need for periodic recertification (completely agree 23.4% UK vs 53.9% US, p<0.001). Nearly a fifth of doctors had direct experience of an impaired or incompetent colleague in the previous 3 years. Where the doctor had not reported the colleague to relevant authorities, reasons included thinking that someone else was taking care of the problem, believing that nothing would happen as a result, or fear of retribution. UK doctors were more likely than US doctors to agree that significant medical errors should always be disclosed to patients. More US doctors reported that they had not disclosed an error to a patient because they were afraid of being sued. DISCUSSION: The context of care may influence both how professional values are expressed and the extent to which behaviours are in line with stated values. Doctors have an important responsibility to develop their healthcare systems in ways which will support good professional behaviour.Source
BMJ Qual Saf. 2011 Jun;20(6):515-21. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs.2010.048173. Epub 2011 Mar 7. Link to article on publisher's websiteDOI
10.1136/bmjqs.2010.048173Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/50269PubMed ID
21383386Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedRights
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1136/bmjqs.2010.048173