This essay argues that physicians hold primary ethical responsibility for repairing damaged patient-physician relationships. The first section establishes that the patient-physician relationship has an important influence on patient health and argues that physicians' duty to treat should be understood as including a responsibility to repair broken relationships, regardless of which party was "r...

BACKGROUND Few studies document differences in patient satisfaction with physicians in the elderly (> or = 65 years) and compare it to non-elderly (<65 years) patients. METHODS A cross-sectional survey study on a convenience sample of 20,901 patients rated their recent visit to a physician through a web-based survey. Survey included validated questions based on aspects of physician care pract...

BACKGROUND German hospitals have a well-defined career structure for clinicians. In this hierarchical career system university hospital are stepping stones for career advancement. This longitudinal study investigates the impact of working in university hospitals on the career success of junior physicians and senior physicians. METHODS Consideration of the career trajectories of 324 hospital p...

BACKGROUND Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is the standard of care for the diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules but despite its proven utility, the non-diagnostic rate for thyroid FNA ranges from 6-36%. A non-diagnostic FNA is problematic for the clinician and patient because it can result in repeated procedures, multiple physician visits, and a delay in definitive treatment. Surgeon-performed FN...

Objective To advance the knowledge on how to amplify the impact of effective clinical interventions to the population level, we tested an approach that took the traditional model of care delivery, which relied on busy physician practices to initiate treatment and transformed it into a patient-driven model, enabled by web technology and strategic labor distribution among patient, physician and p...

In Reply: We appreciate the opportunity to respond questions raised by American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM). realize staffing models for emergency departments (EDs) with or without advanced practice providers (APPs) are increasing interest. Our study was intended fill a gap in literature, not advocate particular position on this issue. By linking clinician scheduling data detailed pati...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patient anger because of a long wait is a common occurrence, but few studies have looked at how the anger should be addressed. This study determined patient levels of satisfaction, rating of importance, and preference for a variety of approaches for addressing anger being directed toward a physician. METHODS A video trigger tape of an angry patient and 12 physician r...

BACKGROUND National vaccination guidelines recommend influenza vaccination for clinical employees with patient contact. For many other healthy working adults, influenza vaccination is optional. PURPOSE We examined acceptance of a free influenza vaccine among clinical university employees who had patient contact and nonclinical university employees who did not have patient contact. We asked wh...

Patients with lung cancer present to and are managed by a variety of clinicians. In this study the effect of involvement by a respiratory physician on the diagnosis, staging, treatment and survival of a large unselected group of lung cancer patients was investigated. The study population was derived from the Scottish Cancer Registry. A total of 3,855 patients diagnosed during 1995 with lung can...