Reduced Visit Time Affecting Patient Health And Physician Job Satisfaction, Study Shows

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 09 Dec 2008 - 8:00 PST

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UK doctors are more likely than their European counterparts to say that a shortage of healthcare providers has driven down visit lengths since they started work. 87 percent of British doctors say that time constraints have a negative impact on patient health.

Not having enough time with each patient to provide care in the way they would choose is also the biggest hurdle to British doctors' own job satisfaction.

While administrative and legal burdens contribute negatively to the practice of medicine, deteriorating doctor-patient relationship is another top worry among UK doctors.

Some 40 percent of respondents spoke of interference from non medical third-parties in their decisions as the main cause of complaint.

The research was commissioned by Pfizer as part of its Medical Partnerships Initiative (MPI) and conducted by opinion research specialists Apco Insight. It questioned 1741 GP and specialist physicians in Europe, Asia and North America and received responses from 768 in Europe, 125 in the UK.

Overall a mixed picture emerged from the UK findings. Although a third of British GPs and specialists expressed concern about the direction of medicine in their country, half said they were generally positive about the direction of the practice of medicine.

This was largely thanks to the availability of new treatments and techniques and to the prominence of UK academic research.

The practice of medicine itself drives satisfaction. 49 percent of GPs and specialists said that treating patients' illness or healing patients is the most satisfying experience to them.

"This research shows that across the European Union, physicians are under pressure from too little time with patients and too much time spent on administrative burdens, which they believe can harm patient's health", said Otmar Kloiber, Secretary-General of the World Medical Association (WMA).

"Nonetheless the majority of doctors remain enthusiastic about their practice, for very often only for altruistic reasons," he added. "Faced with a very difficult working environment, physicians today should be applauded for their continued dedication to patient welfare." The WMA is the independent confederation of national medical associations from more than 90 countries and represents more than 8 million physicians.

To read the survey see: http://www.doctorviewpoint.eu/uk

About the Survey Methodology

As part of its Medical Partnerships Initiative, Pfizer has been tracking the attitudes and opinions of health professionals over the past few years. A series of surveys investigated how physicians feel about their role in healthcare, developments in the quality of care and the future of their profession.

Pfizer Inc. External Medical Affairs, International, commissioned APCO Insight, a global opinion research firm, to conduct a scientific probability survey with physicians across Europe concerning their attitudes toward the practice of medicine. Interviews were conducted among 768 general practice and specialist physicians in Germany (n=138), France (n=127), the UK (n=125), Belgium (n=126), Portugal (n=127), and the Netherlands (n=125). Interviews were conducted between December 15, 2007 and March 1, 2008 by telephone interviews.

http://www.doctorviewpoint.eu/uk