Good physicians from the perspective of their patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It is not currently known what is the patient's viewpoint of a "good" physician. We set out to define patient's priorities regarding different physician's attributes in 3 domains important in medical care.

Methods

Patients hospitalized or attending clinics at a large teaching hospital selected the 4 attributes that they considered most important out of 21 listed arbitrarily in a questionnaire. The questionnaire included 7 items each in the domains of patient autonomy, professional expertise and humanism.

Results

Participating patients (n = 445, mean age 57.5 +/- 16 years) selected professional expertise (50%), physician's patience and attentiveness (38% and 30%, respectively), and informing the patient, representing the patient's interests, being truthful a

SUBMITTER: Schattner A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC520754 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature