{"id":104923,"date":"2019-08-02T13:45:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2019\/08\/02\/findings-at-a-glance-medical-doctors\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:18:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:18:13","slug":"findings-at-a-glance-medical-doctors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/science\/2019\/08\/02\/findings-at-a-glance-medical-doctors\/","title":{"rendered":"Findings at a glance: Medical doctors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most Americans have positive overall views of medical doctors, and roughly half or more believe they can routinely count on medical doctors to do a good job, to show concern for patients\u2019 interests and to provide fair and accurate information. But about half of Americans see professional misconduct as at least a moderately big problem, and many are skeptical that doctors are usually transparent about conflicts of interest or take responsibility for mistakes, according to a new <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/science\/2019\/08\/02\/trust-and-mistrust-in-americans-views-of-scientific-experts\">Pew Research Center report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h4 id=\"overall-views\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overall views<\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-122777\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/science\/2019\/08\/02\/findings-at-a-glance-medical-doctors\/ps_08-02-19_trust-in_-scientists_ataglance5-png\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d9dfe4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d9dfe4;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"1164\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/07\/PS_08.02.19_trust.in_.scientists_ataglance5.png?resize=480,668 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/07\/PS_08.02.19_trust.in_.scientists_ataglance5.png?resize=782,1089 782w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/07\/PS_08.02.19_trust.in_.scientists_ataglance5.png?resize=836,1164 836w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-122777 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2019\/07\/PS_08.02.19_trust.in_.scientists_ataglance5.png\" alt=\"A majority of U.S. adults say medical doctors care about their patients' interests all or most of the time\" ><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">74% of Americans have a positive view of medical doctors.<\/p>\n\n<h4 id=\"trust-and-mistrust\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trust and mistrust<\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About half or more Americans say medical doctors usually care about their patients\u2019 best interests (57%), do a good job providing diagnoses and treatment recommendations (49%) or provide fair and accurate information when making recommendations (48%).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there is more concern over issues of scientific integrity: 15% say doctors are transparent about potential conflicts of interest all or most of the time, and 12% say doctors usually admit and take responsibility for mistakes.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Half of Americans say professional misconduct among medical doctors is at least a moderately big problem. Just 20% say misconduct by doctors usually leads to serious consequences.<\/p>\n\n<h4 id=\"other-notable-findings\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other notable findings<\/h4>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adults ages 50 and older are more likely than those under age 50 to trust medical doctors. For instance, a majority of those 50 and older (56%) say doctors do a good job providing diagnoses and treatment recommendations all or most of the time, compared with 42% of those under 50. And older adults (65%) are more likely than younger adults (49%) to believe medical doctors care about their patients\u2019 best interests all or most of the time.<\/li>\n<li>Blacks (71%) and Hispanics (63%) are more likely than whites (43%) to see professional misconduct among medical doctors as at least a moderately big problem.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/science\/2019\/08\/02\/americans-generally-view-medical-professionals-favorably-but-about-half-consider-misconduct-a-big-problem\">Medical doctors<\/a> are the most widely known of the six types of scientists on the Center\u2019s survey. A large majority of U.S. adults say they are familiar with the role of medical doctors because of news reports (69%) or a personal relationship (65%).<\/li>\n<li>People who are more familiar with medical doctors have more positive and trusting views of them. For example, among those who say they know a lot about the work of medical doctors, most (65%) say doctors care about the best interest of their patients all or most of the time, compared with 53% of those who know only a little about medical doctors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-callout has-ui-beige-very-light-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><h4 id=\"about-the-survey\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">About the survey<\/h4><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nationally representative survey from Pew Research Center was conducted among U.S. adults ages 18 and older. About half of the survey respondents (N=2,238) were asked about medical doctors; these responses have a margin of sampling error of +\/- 2.7 percentage points. Before answering questions about this group, respondents were given the following brief description: \u201c<strong>Medical doctors<\/strong> provide patients with diagnoses of disease and\/or treatment recommendations to promote, maintain or restore a patient\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most Americans have positive overall views of medical doctors, and roughly half or more believe they can routinely count on medical doctors to do a good job, to show concern for patients\u2019 interests and to provide fair and accurate 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