According to a recent paper in JAMA [JAMA.
2013;310(4):380-388. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.8278], the
answer seems to be no. The authors surveyed (randomly) physicians from the AMA
masterfile. They had a decent response rate (56%) and sample size (n = 2556). Only
36% reported that practicing physicians have a responsibility to reduce costs.
The authors argue that the picture is complex and that this raw statistic hides the
devil in detail. For example, 78% reported that (78%) and that “doctors
need to take a more prominent role in limiting use of unnecessary tests”.
Looking at the data from an organizational perspective, I wonder whether the
data reveal something important about the way that doctors feel that they do not
belong to their organisations. Thus, the data might be a symptom of a more
serious malady. The feeling that one does not fully belong to an organisation
is unlikely to be fixed by changing payment plans.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Working conditions for Irish and UK doctors
The following is an article from an Irish online journal. It represents
the views of an Irish doctor with regard to the general working conditions for
non-consultant doctors. It’s obviously written with a certain political angle,
but it does provide interesting food for thought with regard to the European
Working time directive.
It’s interesting to contrast the previous link with a blog entry on the
BMJ about the ethics of taking time off when sick. The author alerts us to the
inherent contradictions around professionalism.
Again the European Working Time Directive is involved.
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