1 in 3 doctors afraid to report underperforming colleagues

Professional values and reported behaviors of doctors in the USA and UK: Quantitative survey 2011

2011-03-08

(Press-News.org) Almost one in five UK doctors has had direct experience of an incompetent or poorly performing colleague in the past three years, finds a survey of professional values, published online in BMJ Quality & Safety.

Nearly three out of four of these doctors said they had sounded the alarm, but one in three of those who had not done so gave fear of retribution as the reason.

The study authors canvassed the views of almost 2,000 US doctors working in primary care and hospital medicine and over 1,000 of their UK peers in 2009 about various aspects of professional behaviour.

Topics included quality and safety issues, conflicts of interest, and attitudes to patients. Almost two thirds of US doctors and four out of 10 UK doctors responded.

Somewhat surprisingly, only 8 out of 10 respondents in both countries strongly agreed that patient welfare should come before their own financial interests.

And only around 6 out of 10 felt that they should disclose any financial relationships they had with pharma companies to their patients. Most respondents had received gifts/samples from these companies.

And not all doctors agreed that it was "never appropriate" to have a sexual relationship with a patient.

When it came to the quality of their own performance, twice as many US as UK doctors agreed that periodic recertification (revalidation) was necessary. But only just over half of US doctors agreed with this, despite recertification having been in place for several years in the US. Revalidation for UK doctors is due to start in 2012.

When it came to dealing with a colleague's performance, almost one in five (19%) UK respondents said they had had experience of an impaired or incompetent colleague during the previous three years, compared with 16.5% of US respondents.

Nearly three out of four UK doctors (72%) and nearly two thirds of their US peers (65%) said they had alerted relevant individuals/bodies. But of those who didn't, one in three UK doctors said this was because they feared retribution. Just 12.5% of US doctors gave this as their reason.

Between one in four (UK) and one in five (US) respondents said they hadn't sounded the alarm, because they thought someone else was taking care of the problem.

UK doctors were also less likely than their US peers to completely agree that all the pros and cons of a procedure should be fully explained to a patient, but when things went wrong, UK doctors were more likely to agree that significant medical errors should be disclosed.

There was some evidence that doctors in both countries paid lip service to equality issues. The overwhelming majority of respondents agreed that they should strive to minimise disparities in care due to race, gender, or religion. But fewer than one fifth of doctors in either country had actually looked at data on health inequalities in their practice.

"Especially at times of major healthcare reform, as both the USA and UK currently face, doctors have an important responsibility to develop their healthcare systems in ways which will support good professional behaviour," conclude the authors.

### END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

High levels of 'good' cholesterol may cut bowel cancer risk

2011-03-08

High levels of "good" (high density lipoprotein) HDL cholesterol seem to cut the risk of bowel cancer, suggests research published online in Gut. The association is independent of other potentially cancer-inducing markers of inflammation in the blood. The researchers base their findings on participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. This is tracking the long term impact of diet on the development of cancer in more than half a million people in 10 European countries, including the UK. Some 1,200 people who developed ...

Acupuncture curbs severity of menopausal hot flushes

2011-03-08

Traditional Chinese acupuncture curbs the severity of hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms, suggests a small study published today in Acupuncture in Medicine. The effects did not seem to be related to changes in levels of the hormones responsible for sparking the menopause and its associated symptoms, the study shows. The authors base their findings on 53 middle aged women, all of whom were classified as being postmenopausal - they had spontaneously stopped having periods for a year. Their somatic (hot flushes) urogenital (vaginal dryness and urinary tract infection) ...

Suggesting genes' friends, Facebook-style

2011-03-08

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method that uncovers the combined effects of genes. Published online today in Nature Methods, it helps understand how different genes can amplify, cancel out or mask each others' effects, and enables scientists to suggest genes that interfere with each other in much the same manner that facebook suggests friends. To understand the connections between genetic make-up and traits like disease susceptibility, scientists ...

Older parents are happier with more children

2011-03-08

This release is available in German. "Children may be a long-term investment in happiness," says MPIDR demographer Mikko Myrskylä. Together with Rachel Margolis from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA, he published the new study in the latest issue of the journal "Population and Development Review". It shows a global trend: while for parents under 30 the level of happiness decreases with the first and each additional child, mothers and fathers aged 30 to 39 feel as happy as childless peers until they have four children or more. From age 40 onwards parents ...

Unique frog helps amphibian conservation efforts

2011-03-08

A tropical frog – the only one of its kind in the world – is providing conservationists with exclusive insights into the genetic make-up of its closest endangered relatives. University of Manchester scientists have allowed two critically endangered species of Central American Leaf frogs to interbreed, producing the unique frog – a hybrid of the two species. DNA tests using a harmless mouth swab showed that the two parent frogs were actually very closely related despite being different species. The findings are important because DNA tests on frogs of the same species ...

Genome sequencing used to assess a novel form of Clostridium botulinum

2011-03-08

Scientists on the Norwich Research Park have sequenced the genome of a novel strain of Clostridium botulinum, one of the most dangerous pathogens known to man. The strain produces an unusual botulinum neurotoxin, known as type A5 neurotoxin, which was isolated by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), following a case of wound botulism. Professor Mike Peck and his research group at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) study Clostridium botulinum. Their expertise is crucial for preventing food poisoning outbreaks in the UK and internationally and to understanding the threat ...

Otters on road to recovery in Andalusia

2011-03-08

Improved environmental conditions have enabled the otter (Lutra lutra) to spread in Andalusia over the past 20 years. However, the recovery of populations of this mammal has been "relatively" slow, and in some areas the impact of human activities still prevents the species from gaining a foothold. "The high level of 'humanisation' of the landscape still acts as a strong impediment to the expansion of the otter, to such an extent that it is preventing the species from fully recovering its original distribution area", Miguel Clavero, lead author of the study and a researcher ...

Universal screening programs can uncover abuse, study finds

2011-03-08

TORONTO, ON., March 7, 2011—Screening every woman who comes to a health care centre does increase the number who acknowledge they have been abused by their partners, a new study confirms. The study, led by Patricia O'Campo, director of the Centre for Inner City Research at St. Michael's Hospital, represents a major reversal of thinking about the value of universal screening programs for domestic abuse or intimate partner violence. Until now, the research and health care policy communities felt there was insufficient evidence to support such programs. O'Campo reviewed ...

Political narratives on race, southern identity influence national elections

2011-03-08

New research from North Carolina State University shows how attempts to define the South by Republicans and Democrats may have set the stage for President Obama's victories in Southern states – and shaped the way Americans view themselves. "Every presidential election is a chance to discuss what it means to be American," says Dr. Christina Moss, teaching assistant professor of communication at NC State and author of a paper on the research. "The South garnered a great deal of attention in the 2004 election season, and the narratives from that election may provide clues ...

MEMS thermal sensor detects pre-atherosclerotic lesions

2011-03-08

New York / Heidelberg, 7 March 2011 A new study published in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering shows that a MEMS thermal sensor deployed by an angiogram catheter can detect the earliest stages of atherosclerosis. The MEMS thermal sensor used convective heat transfer to detect pre-atherosclerotic regions of arteries that otherwise showed no clinical signs of atherosclerosis. Although diet and lifestyle changes can often reverse atherosclerosis in its earliest stages, no real-time means of detecting pre-atherosclerotic regions exists. The MEMS sensor method has the ...

Students and faculty to join research teams this spring at Department of Energy National Laboratories and a fusion facility

Korea University College of Medicine and Yale Univeristy co-host forum on Advancing Healthcare through Data and AI Innovations

MD Anderson and Myriad Genetics form strategic alliance to evaluate clinical utility of Myriad’s molecular residual disease assay

Method can detect harmful salts forming in nuclear waste melters

[Press-News.org] 1 in 3 doctors afraid to report underperforming colleagues
Professional values and reported behaviors of doctors in the USA and UK: Quantitative survey 2011

1 in 3 doctors afraid to report underperforming colleagues

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: