Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Doctors ignore social factors when making a patient diagnosis

Kevin Pho, MD
Conditions
August 5, 2010
107 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

A recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doctors often discounted a patient’s social situation when making a medical diagnosis.

Lead researcher Saul Weiner “arranged to send actors playing patients into physicians’ offices and discovered that errors occurred in 78 percent of cases when socioeconomic concerns were a significant factor.”

Evan Falchuk, commenting on the results, provides some context:

It’s hard to expect even the most gifted clinician, trying to make it through yet another week of a hundred or more patient encounters, to get these difficult decisions right.  Too much of the context of a patient’s care gets lost in the endless churn of patient visits that the health care system imposes on doctors.I suspect this is enormously frustrating for doctors, although it’s worse for patients.  What the researchers call a failure to “individualize care,” a patient might call “not being paid attention to.”  It’s a dynamic that anyone who’s been ill has probably seen first-hand.

These findings are entirely unsurprising.  Uncovering social factors that potentially underlie a patient’s symptoms takes time to find out.  And sometimes, patients are reluctant to disclose their social situation to doctors until a relationship is made — an acknowledged limitation of the study, which only observed first-time encounters.

Primary care doctors are restricted by a payment system that doesn’t value time, and subsequently, “most physicians are under incredible time pressure and don’t want to go there because it could open up a whole can of worms.”

The best way to value time is to pay primary care doctors by the hour.  Reduce the pressure to see a huge number of patients.  And you’ll miraculously see the problems brought forth by this study markedly improve.

Kevin Pho is an internal medicine physician and on the Board of Contributors at USA Today.  He is founder and editor of KevinMD.com, also on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Prev

Pharmaceutical sponsored dinners have educational value

August 5, 2010 Kevin 12
…
Next

How developing countries use foreign health aid matters

August 5, 2010 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Patients, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Pharmaceutical sponsored dinners have educational value
Next Post >
How developing countries use foreign health aid matters

More by Kevin Pho, MD

  • Tragedy strikes Monday Night Football as Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffers cardiac arrest. Is commotio cordis to blame?

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Life as an MD online with Kevin Pho, MD

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Essential clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community

    Kevin Pho, MD

More in Conditions

  • From hope to heartbreak: a story of loss in the ICU

    Ton La, Jr., MD, JD
  • The beauty of a patient’s gratitude

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • Overcoming Parkinson’s: a journey of laughter and resilience

    Cynthia Poire Mathews, FNP
  • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

    Denise Reich
  • Maximize sleep efficiency with stimulus control

    Pedram Navab, DO
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Beyond pizza and pens: National Doctors’ Day should be about saving lives

      James Young, MD | Physician
    • Physicians are a finite resource we need to protect

      Jack Resneck, Jr., MD | Physician
    • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The Titanic sinking: a metaphor for the impending collapse of medicine

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD & Shreekant Vasudhev, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From license to loneliness: the dilemma of retired physicians

      Richard Plotzker, MD | Physician
    • Tackling the health care crisis with artificial intelligence: Combating physician and nursing shortages in the United States

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • From hope to heartbreak: a story of loss in the ICU

      Ton La, Jr., MD, JD | Conditions
    • Unlearning our habits: a journey from intelligence to wisdom

      Brian Sayers, MD | Physician
    • Lessons from an orthopedic surgery journey [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 4 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Experts Call for PBM Transparency During Senate Hearing
  • Want to Fix Medicare Pay for Primary Care Docs? How About Two Fee Schedules?
  • OTC Narcan Approval Opens New Doors in Fight Against Opioid Crisis
  • U.S. 'Flying Blind' When It Comes to Data on Substance Use in Pregnancy
  • Fear of Family Separation a Barrier to Addiction Care During Pregnancy

Meeting Coverage

  • VTE Risk in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Increases With More Lines of Chemotherapy
  • Obesity's Impact on Uterine Cancer Risk Greater in Younger Age Groups
  • Oral Roflumilast Effective in the Treatment of Plaque Psoriasis
  • Phase III Trials 'Hit a Home Run' in Advanced Endometrial Cancer
  • Cannabis Use Common in Post-Surgery Patients on Opioid Tapering
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Beyond pizza and pens: National Doctors’ Day should be about saving lives

      James Young, MD | Physician
    • Physicians are a finite resource we need to protect

      Jack Resneck, Jr., MD | Physician
    • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The Titanic sinking: a metaphor for the impending collapse of medicine

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD & Shreekant Vasudhev, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From license to loneliness: the dilemma of retired physicians

      Richard Plotzker, MD | Physician
    • Tackling the health care crisis with artificial intelligence: Combating physician and nursing shortages in the United States

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • From hope to heartbreak: a story of loss in the ICU

      Ton La, Jr., MD, JD | Conditions
    • Unlearning our habits: a journey from intelligence to wisdom

      Brian Sayers, MD | Physician
    • Lessons from an orthopedic surgery journey [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Doctors ignore social factors when making a patient diagnosis
4 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...