Dr. Pauline Chen wrote her column yesterday about Angie's List, an online community where participants can rank and review service providers, and now allows patients to rank their physicians. Dr. Chen observed how when reviewing service providers such as roofers, participants detailed the quality and competence of work, often giving details such as supplies used, quality of technique and even photos of finished products. But when ranking doctors, patients consistently ranked physicians higher for things such as attentiveness, and gave failing grades to physicians who were brusque and rushed. But the reviews of physicians said little about physician's actual medical skills. Dr. Chen then goes on to discuss the difficulties patients have in assessing and researching physician skill and competence, and why patients need to take an active part of their health care by researching and knowing about their physicians.
You can find the column here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/health/18chen.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
And the blog and comments here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/in-doctors-we-trust/
What do you think? How should patients take a more active role in their health care? How can patients do this without putting physicians on the defensive?
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