Most would prefer Dr. House.
According to a survey, the acid-tongued master diagnostician of Fox’s television series (via Dr. RW) was the preference of 20 percent of respondents. The good-manned Dr. Welby was second at 13 percent.
Ironically, the 95 percent of the same respondents said bedside manner was the most important trait they looked for in a doctor, something Dr. House is definitely not known for.
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And how many of the respondents actually knew who Dr. Welby was?
doctor! the patient has 15 points of tenderness and no objective findings by exam, lab or imaging studies! you must make a diagnosis!
time to call in dr house…
Several years ago I pointed out to the American Academy of Family Physicians that our image as “Marcus Welby’s” had died and our image had become “Becker,” the barfly physician who made fun of his patients. Television shapes the expectations of the public and our primary care professional organizations have not made a concerted effort to put a primetime program out there that shows patients what they should expect from a good primary physician. The sponsors (big pharma) would be lining up for us.
I wrote an article about how patients use the Internet (Diagnosis Surfing, http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/winter2009/columns/people.html) that starts off asking what House would do when a patient handed him the results of Internet research. Television shapes perceptions and expectations, such as the rise in cosmetic surgery due to shows like Nip/Tuck and the misperceptions people have about such procedures.