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U.S. physicians support community activity
on health-related issues
BOSTON - November 21, 2006 - Most U.S. physicians believe
that their responsibilities for matters related to health care extend
beyond caring for their individual patients, according to a paper
from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute
for Health Policy. In the November 22 Journal of the American
Medical Association, the researchers report results of a survey
finding that more than 90 percent of physicians regard participation
in health-focused community activities, political involvement and
advocacy for health-related issues as important. Two thirds of respondents
report actively taking part in such activities in the preceding
three years.
"Unlike the common perception that doctors are small businesspeople
focused on their own self-interest, we found that they are concerned
about social and environmental causes of illness," says Russell
Gruen, MBBS, PhD, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, the
study's lead author who collaborated with the MGH researchers while
a Harkness Fellow in Health Policy at Harvard School of Public Health.
"Most doctors think it's important to work with their communities
and be politically active on these issues in the public interest,
but it seems that system factors can get in the way of their doing
so."
The current study is part of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession
Study, a 2004 survey sent to more than 3,000 physicians in six specialties
- internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics, anesthesiology,
general surgery and cardiology - randomly selected from the membership
of the American Medical Association. Survey respondents were asked
whether they thought it was important for physicians to provide
health expertise to community organizations such as schools, to
be politically active in health issues beyond voting, and to encourage
their professional organizations to advocate for the public health.
They also were asked whether they had personally participated in
such activities and to rate the importance of 11 health-related
issues, including health coverage for the uninsured, tobacco control,
and reducing air pollution.
Among the almost 1,700 respondents, 70 percent were determined to
be civic minded, based on their rating of the importance of physician
community activity. Personal participation in at least one of the
activities was reported by 65 percent. Respondents did seem to consider
issues that directly impact patients' health - like access to immunizations,
better nutrition, and tobacco control - as more important to address
than broader influences like unemployment, literacy and air pollution.
"One result that we found surprising was that only 58 percent
of respondents ranked universal health coverage for the uninsured
as important," says Eric Campbell, PhD, of the MGH Institute
for Health Policy, a study co-author. The team noted that political
and ideological concerns may complicate attitudes about several
of these issues.
"We also found that whether physicians become personally involved
in these issues seems to depend on their work environment, as well
as on characteristics such as age, where they received training
and whether or not they belong to an underrepresented racial or
ethnic group," says Gruen. "If medical schools, health
policymakers and other leaders can focus on some of these public
health issues, doctors could be a powerful voice for change in many
areas."
David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, director of the MGH Institute for Health
Policy, was the senior author of the study, which was supported
by a grant from the Open Society Institute's Medicine as a Profession
Program. Support also came from Harvard School of Public Health,
Harvard Medical School and the Commonwealth Fund.
Massachusetts General Hospital, established in 1811, is the original
and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH
conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United
States, with an annual research budget of nearly $500 million and
major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer,
computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human
genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative
medicine, transplantation biology and photomedicine. MGH and Brigham
and Women's Hospital are founding members of Partners HealthCare
HealthCare System, a Boston-based integrated health care delivery
system.
Media Contact: Sue
McGreevey, MGH Public Affairs
Physician Referral Service: 1-800-388-4644
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